In an era where basketball big men often drift beyond the arc and float on the perimeter, Ivica Zubac is proudly a throwback. The Los Angeles Clippers center isn’t interested in keeping up with the trend — he’s committed to the roots.
“I like being a traditional big,” Zubac told me in a recent sit-down. “There’s not a lot of guys that do it anymore, and traditional bigs will always have a place in the game — especially if you can defend and protect the rim, rebound well; if you can finish down low, I think that there’s always a place for a traditional big. And I love doing that job; I love doing the dirty work and I like the role.”
For Zubac, that role isn’t just a job — it’s a craft. The Croatia-born big man has carved out a career as a dependable presence in the paint. He sets hard screens, alters shots, and gobbles up rebounds like it’s a daily mission. And even in today’s pace-and-space NBA, his old-school sensibility is a steadying force on the floor.
That foundation started with who he idolized.
“Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan. Those were my two favorite bigs,” Zubac said. “Playing both ways, very skilled in the post, defending at a high level — All-NBA level. I really enjoy watching their highlights. I didn’t watch Hakeem growing up, he was before my time. I used to watch a lot of his highlights, but I got to watch Tim Duncan a little bit and really enjoyed watching their games.”
That love for the legends translated into a once-in-a-lifetime experience early in Zubac’s career. As a rookie with the Lakers, he got a call that still feels surreal.
“It was fun, man! I couldn’t believe that it was happening to me — that was the first thing,” Zubac recalled, lighting up. “I worked out with the Lakers with Bill Bertka and he’s been with the Lakers for 50-60 years! He’s 90-something, so he’s worked out with Wilt [Chamberlain], Kareem, Shaq… you know? All those bigs. One day he invited Kareem to a workout to show me a couple things and that was fun. It was really something. I couldn’t believe it — it was my rookie year and I couldn’t believe that was happening.”
Working out with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar isn’t just about getting starstruck — it’s about absorbing knowledge from one of the game’s greatest.
“It was pretty much… we worked on the sky hook a lot. It was all about that hook shot!” Zubac said. “I learned a lot from him. I use that hook shot every game, I work on it every day, I’m trying to perfect it and have one of the best hooks in the league. And that one left-handed hook shot? I’m still working on that, but it’s all about that hook shot. I learned a lot, and in the workout he shot a couple — it was so smooth and it was crazy!”
And while Kareem’s impact on Zubac was hands-on and direct, his legacy was also recently honored on a much larger stage — when LeBron James broke his all-time scoring record.
When that moment happened, it felt like the passing of a torch between generations. For decades, Kareem’s scoring total stood like a monument in the league’s history — untouchable, unshakeable. But LeBron, with nearly two decades of high-level play, finally climbed that mountain.
“I thought that it was pretty hard to reach that record,” Zubac said. “And props to LeBron — he’s doing it at a high level for so long and he’s doing something that no one ever really did at that age. It just shows how invested and how serious he is about his craft, how much he takes care of his body, and how much he sharpens his skills.”
In a full-circle kind of way, Zubac — the student of Kareem — finds himself in a league still shaped by the legends, now evolving in real time as LeBron builds on the foundation they laid.
Zubac might not dominate headlines or dazzle with 35-footers, but in the trenches, where the game is won possession by possession, he thrives. His reverence for the greats isn’t just nostalgia — it’s part of how he plays. Every screen, every rebound, every hook shot? That’s homage. And in that respect, he’s keeping tradition alive — one game at a time.
