Who Is Imran Suljanovic? UNM’s Reported Portal Addition Brings Size, Scoring Potential
Photo of new UNM commit Imran Suljanovic playing club basketball in Italy. Photo courtesy of italballers on Instagram.
As the transfer portal takes talent away from UNM men’s basketball, it may also be giving something back, with the Lobos reportedly landing former St. John’s forward Imran Suljanovic.
Neither Suljanovic nor UNM has formally announced his commitment but news broke on social media on Monday evening.
Suljanovic is a 6-foot-8 forward from Vienna, Austria who originally committed to Rick Pitino in April of last year, choosing the Johnnies over Xavier, Ohio State and Cincinnati.
He missed all of last season for the Red Storm with a dislocated platella that he suffered in practice in October. His recovery was supposed to be 4-5 months.
Suljanovic quickly emerged as a rising talent in European professional basketball before committing to St. John’s, highlighted by a standout run with the Austrian national team at the 2024 FIBA U18 tournament, where he averaged 22.4 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 39% from three-point range over seven games, drawing interest from several top college programs in the United States.
Thereafter, Suljanvoic made his debut with the Austrian Senior national team on February 23, 2025 in a FIBA World Qualifer Game against Albania, where he scored a team-high 11 points.
Suljanovic played professional basketball for Unahotels Reggio Emilia in the Italian Serie A league on their U19 team. In his last game on April 15, 2025 before announcing his commitment to St. John’s, Suljanovic scored 30 points and 9 rebounds while knocking down five 3-pointers.
A European scout told the New York post on April 22, 2025, that when watching Suljanvoic play in Europe, his assessment was “He can shoot on the ball, he can shoot playing off the ball. Super quick release off the catch, makes off-balanced shots,” the scout said. “He’s also a very underrated passer. … He’s smart and he’s tough. He plays with an edge. He’s not going to back down.”
Suljanovic is expected to have 4 years of elibiligty after not playing last season due tp injury. If he’s able to be the same player before his injury, he has a great combination of size and scoring ability that could thrive in Olen’s free flowing offensive scheme.
