HERAKLION (Greece) - Serbia is back in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket Semi-Finals for the first time in a decade. The team won their third U20 crown in 2015 and, since then, they recorded a pair of fifth-place finishes in 2017 and 2023, but they have also had disappointing campaigns, including a 15th-place finish in 2019 that saw them relegated to Division B.
If this is the year Serbia finally breaks the streak, Lazar Gacic will be one of the main reasons why. On a balanced Serbian roster that includes a masterful lead playmaker in Aleksa Ristic, a versatile, efficient scorer in Pavle Nikolic, and a strong interior anchor in Viktor Mikic, Gacic has been a perfect fit and is leading his team in scoring.
As Serbia heads into a Semi-Finals matchup against Italy, we take a look at Gacic's strong play in Heraklion and what it means for his projection to the highest levels of competition.
Offense - A Versatile Threat
The first thing that stands out about Gacic is not a particular skill, but his unique combination of size and mobility and how he utilizes those tools to affect every facet of the game.
Listed at 2.10m (6ft 11in), the Serbian forward has excellent positional size, especially given his role as a perimeter forward. His mix of size, mobility, coordination, and flexibility makes him a threat as an interior finisher. Gacic is shooting 65.4 percent from inside the arc in the tournament and has been a reliable target on cuts and rolls to the basket. Despite not having elite strength, he's able to finish through contact with his excellent hangtime, flexibility, and soft touch around the rim.
The aforementioned lack of strength limits his productivity as an offensive rebounder and interior self-creator, but he's still able to navigate traffic when catching the ball in the paint. His coordination and footwork allow him to protect the ball against contact and consistently find the open space. He shows versatility as a finisher in the paint, being able to convert not just dunks and layups, but also hook shots, floaters, and other tough baskets in the restricted area.
Gacic's offensive contributions, however, can also come from the perimeter. His combination of size, coordination, and fluidity with the ball in his hands has made him a threat as a straight-line driver, whether that is in transition or by attacking closeouts.
The 20-year-old is also having an impressive tournament as a three-point shooter, having converted 57.1 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc, albeit on a small sample size (just 1.4 attempts per game). Gacic has been a factor in the pick-and-pop game, and opponents definitely need to guard him at the three-point line, which helps with the team's spacing. Despite the low volume of attempts, his tremendous numbers from the free-throw line (88.1 percent on 42 total attempts) bode well for his projection as a shooter at the next level.
While the stat sheet might suggest that passing is the weak point in his offensive profile — he has twice as many turnovers as he has assists during the tournament — that's not necessarily the case when you watch the tape. Though Gacic is not an offensive initiator, he can operate within the flow of the offense, move the ball, and even execute some advanced passing reads, showing enough vision to find the open man out of the short roll, or to hit teammates on the perimeter with skip passes and no-look deliveries.
Defense - A Work in Progress
Some of the physical tools that give Gacic an edge on offense turn into limitations on the defensive end of the floor. At his 2.10m size and with long legs, he has a high center of gravity, which makes it hard for him to get low in a defensive stance on the perimeter and slide laterally to contain opponents. He's also not super quick to turn his hips — again, likely due to his build — which makes it difficult for him to recover when getting beaten off the dribble.
Despite his impressive positional size, he lacks the strength to be a full-time center who protects the rim and dominates the glass, averaging just 4.4 rebounds per game and not recording a single block during the tournament.
A potential avenue for Gacic to develop into a positive defensive contributor would be improving as an off-ball defender, being someone who utilizes his size to contest shots in the perimeter and can rotate into the paint as a secondary rim protector. He hasn't shown consistency in these areas during the tournament, but he certainly has every tool to develop those defensive skills in the future.
Outlook
Gacic has a unique profile as a 2.10m forward who can impact the game both in the paint and on the perimeter. His combination of size, fluidity, and touch around the basket makes him a threat in transition and as a pick-and-roll target. The addition of a three-point shot to his arsenal, has opened up new lanes both for Gacic's game and for his team.
His defense is still a work in progress, but thanks to his scoring upside, he should be expected to make an impact in his first full season in the Adriatic League, as he moves to Mega Basket for the 2025-26 campaign. In the meantime, he'll be one of the leading MVP candidates in Heraklion, especially if Serbia finishes the job and claims their first U20 title in a decade.
FIBA