At 22 years old, Marija Leković has been the starting point guard for the Montenegro National Team since 2023, most recently serving the role at EuroBasket Women 2025. At the club level, she’s played for Fenerbahçe (2023-25) and Perfumerias Avenida (2025), and now she’s headed to Valencia Basket.
Before her move, Leković found the time to talk to Swish Appeal about her career so far, including what it’s like to play with some of her better-known teammates, current and former, such as the New York
Liberty’s Emma Meesseman and the Phoenix Mercury’s Natasha Mack. Some highlights from the interview:
On Emma Meesseman:
She’s everything on the court. She the greatest. Also as a person. I don’t have the words to explain how good she is out of basketball. And of course, when playing basketball. She is a simple player and she can do whatever she wants: assists, rebounds... everything. She’s the key for any team, I think. It’s not hard to play with her. You need to follow her game and that’s it.
On Natasha Mack:
I think she’s Montenegrin, you know? It’s like she’s born here. She’s fitting now and we are really close, the whole team with her and her with us. This summer she was injured, so she wasn’t there [playing in EuroBasket], but she helped us a lot as a 5 [to get there] and she did a great job this year. So I hope in the future she will be there so we can do maybe even better at EuroBasket and be better together in the future.
A special thank you to Montenegro National Team coach Jelena Škerović for arranging the interview.
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