Former Ankeny Centennial boys’ basketball star Hunter Strait has signed a contract to play professionally in Serbia.
Strait will be joining the team that is named after NBA superstar Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, KK Joker.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid,” said Strait, a 6-foot-2 guard. “I always wanted to play professional basketball, and now I not only get to do that but get to travel the world while doing it.”
Strait was a third-team all-state pick as a senior at Centennial, where he averaged 16.2 points per game in the 2017-18 season. He led the Jaguars to a 14-9 record.
Strait then went on to play at Truman State, where he scored 1,258 points in his five-year career.
“I wouldn’t say I always found (playing professionally) realistic even if it was,” Strait said. “The talent was always there, but I wasn’t mentally tough enough or confident enough in myself yet to truly believe I could. Over the past few years though that has been my main focus, preparing to get that first contract and from there just take advantage of the opportunity.”
Strait started 85 games in his college career, including 30 as a sophomore in the 2019-20 season. He averaged 10.5 points per game and made a career-best 62 3-point goals as the Bulldogs won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II national tournament before the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a junior, Strait started just two games and saw his playing time decrease by more than 11 minutes per game. He averaged 7.3 points and a career-low 2.0 assists.
However, Strait returned to Truman State’s starting lineup in the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 8.2 points and a career-high 4.8 assists. He also grabbed 108 rebounds, matching his career-high.
Strait then took advantage of the opportunity to play a fifth season after the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to athletes because of COVID-19. As a super senior, he averaged a career-best 13.1 points while shooting 84.3 percent from the free-throw line (70-of-83) and 32.3 percent from 3-point range (40-of-124).
Strait said his deal with KK Joker materialized after his agent reached out to teams across Europe.
“He had been hearing from a couple teams in some top leagues, but he called me with the offer from Serbia and pretty much said we can’t turn down this opportunity,” Strait said. “Not only because it’s very rare for DII rookies to make it to that top league in Serbia, but the situation and opportunity is huge. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s Nikola Jokic’s team as well!”
Jokic started his professional career playing for this team in his youth. In 2017, the club rebranded itself in honor of Jokic, who went on to become a two-time MVP before leading Denver to the NBA championship this season.
The whole Jokic family is involved in the project, with brothers Nemanja and Strahinja also being part of the organization.
Now, Strait is a member of KK Joker–thanks to a Serbian connection of his own.
“When it comes to how we got connected to the team in Serbia, part of that has to do with my agent being Serbian and being very familiar with the leagues over there,” he said.