Joe Grahovac has had what it takes to be a dominant basketball player ever since he was a little kid. He always had the passion and the talent, but basketball was just for fun. He never took the sport too seriously.
“I always knew I could do it, but I didn’t want to for the longest time,” said Grahovac.
Today, it’s clear that Grahovac wants it, both the game and the glory, and is willing to put in the work to get there. Grahovac exploded onto the JUCO basketball scene this year and had one of the best individual seasons of any Fullerton College basketball player. With his phenomenal play last season, he landed himself a spot on a D1 basketball program.
Grahovac, Power Forward/Center, bullied opponents in the paint and terrorized other teams with his contested shot-making abilities while at Fullerton College last season. He grabbed the nation’s attention by leading the Hornets to the state championship, along with being named the 3C2A State Player of the Year and Orange Empire Conference MVP. Finally, the Santa Ana native has committed to St. Bonaventure to further his career in basketball. It’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago, he didn’t see himself going down this path.
Grahovac is a 6-foot-10 forward with a rare combination of height, shooting, handles and playmaking. His ability to stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting and protect the rim with his shot-blocking make him a valuable asset to St. Bonaventure’s frontcourt.
Right now, a day in the life of Grahovac involves training, working out, eating healthy and working on his homework. Sounds pretty typical for a student-athlete, but while most D1 athletes have been on this regimen since high school, Grahovac just got on this routine last fall.
Grahovac didn’t always have the big attention from coaches and scouts that he draws in currently. He had been developing his basketball skills since he was in middle school, but struggled to find the right place to show his talent.
“When I was younger, the doctor told me I was going to be 6-foot-9. So, I always made sure to work on my guard skills and work on things that I knew could be valuable if I ever did want to play in the NBA or in college,” said Grahovac.
Things shifted when he got to high school. On the Tustin High School basketball team, he only ended up playing in two games. He was uncomfortable with his experience on the team and asked his mother if he could transfer to another school. Midway through his freshman year, he transferred to Foothill High School in Santa Ana. He didn’t end up playing until senior year and after one game, he quit the team. Back in high school, Grahovac was shy and didn’t like dealing with confrontation. He didn’t like the intensity his coaches had.
Basketball wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t working for Grahovac in high school. He didn’t enjoy doing homework and having to learn concepts he wasn’t interested in. After graduating in 2019, he went straight to work, taking on jobs like delivering hay and working in a warehouse, but he found no enjoyment in his work. He blew off steam by going to 24 Hour Fitness to shoot some hoops for fun. Grahovac was a lot better than all the other competition at the gym, according to his friends he played with at the gym. As he was going there every day after work, the people at the gym kept telling him he should take basketball seriously. He then realized basketball was still one thing he was good at and really loved, so why not give it a go?
“Working a nine-to-five and doing things that you don’t want to do every day, waking up and spending the majority of your day at a job that you don’t like, I realized this does suck,” Grahovac said. “Maybe I should try to get paid doing something that I love; maybe I should play basketball.”
At 24 Hour Fitness, he met a local artist who goes by Daylyt. In the summer of 2021, Daylyt got Grahovac an invite to the Drew League, a pro-am league held in Los Angeles. The Drew League is invitation-only and features local hoopers, college players and NBA players. Legends of the NBA like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Durant and James Harden have all played in the league. After that appearance, Grahovac’s basketball highlights started to get posted on social media. People outside of his local gym began to notice his game. Grahovac began to get invites to more private and competitive basketball runs.
At an adult league later in 2021, Grahovac met Vince Camper II, who is a basketball training coach. When he met Grahovac, he told him to show up at his gym the next day. The session went well, and Grahovac came to work out with Camper every day for a year and a half without fail. Camper believed in Grahovac so much that he never charged him for a workout and would give him money for food just to help him get by.
At the time, summer 2022, Grahovac fell on hard times at home; he lived in his car for a month and a half and would purely just go to work and then get his shots up at night. Camper ended up getting Grahovac a spot on the basketball team at Future College Prep in 2023.
“He is very intelligent; you don’t have to tell him something twice. He’s a warrior, he’s overcome so many things in his life. I can go on and on about all his greatest qualities,” said Camper. “I think what people, coaches, and anybody who encounters him need to know is, as good of a basketball player he is, he’s an even better person.”
Grahovac continued to train and play in as many leagues as possible. In the summer of 2024, someone gave him a chance to change his career forever. That man was Perry Webster, the head coach of Fullerton College Men’s Basketball. Webster is known for cultivating great talent at Fullerton. He has a 235-45 overall record. He is a six-time OEC Coach of the Year and a four-time State Coach of the Year. Webster has also put 40 of his players into four-year schools, 15 of them into D-1 programs. Once Webster saw Grahovac, he knew Grahovac had the potential to be a star. Webster took him around the campus, and then Grahovac attended a game. At the game, he saw Webster’s intensity and realized that Webster’s focus on winning was what he needed in his own game. Grahovac put aside all of his old discipline habits and was ready to get to work.
“I saw his level of sharpness and how much he was focused on the game and winning. So that’s why I came here,” said Grahovac.
Grahovac came to play for the Hornets in the 24-25 season. He came onto the JUCO basketball scene hot, dropping 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in his debut game on Nov. 1, 2024 in a 72-59 win over MiraCosta College. Grahovac boosted the Hornets to a 13-1 record to start the season while averaging 13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks through 14 games. The Hornets ended up finishing 30-4 and were one win short of a state title. Grahovac capped off the season averaging 15.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.7 blocks, and 2.6 assists.
After the season, he was declared the OEC MVP and the 3C2A South State Player of the Year.
What made his stat line even more impressive was the efficiency with which he played. He shot 62 percent from the field, an incredible 39.2 percent clip from deep, and an impressive 79 percent from the free throw line.
Many of the skills Grahovac brings to the basketball court don’t reflect on the stat sheet. He has excellent court vision and distributes the ball efficiently to his teammates. On the defensive end, he provides a scary paint presence, which makes his opponent have to take difficult contested shots.
Grahovac is also known by many as a great teammate. He could have averaged way more than 15 points per game, but he was selfless in sharing the ball.
“One of the most important things about Joe is he genuinely cares about others,” said Camper. “You can even see it in his play this year. Joe probably could have averaged ten more points a game if he wanted to. He’s very unselfish and he genuinely cares about the success of his teammates and others.”
The state championship game was on March 16, which Fullerton lost to San Francisco by 17. At that point, Grahovac was already courting offers from multiple top schools, including UCLA and St. Bonaventure. By March 20, Grahovac had made an announcement that he had committed to the St. Bonaventure Men’s Basketball Team. This was a decision that had been a long time coming. Adrian Wojnarowski, the general manager of the Bonnies, had been personally recruiting Grahovac since October 2024. Wojnarowski was previously the main NBA insider for ESPN. He is very well known for his breaking news reports on Twitter that his 6.4 million followers have termed “Woj Bombs.” Wojnarowski came to Grahovac’s first-ever college game and was impressed with Grahovac instantly.
Grahovac said he chose the Bonnies over a larger school like UCLA because he knew he’d get more playing time and personal attention from St. Bonaventure. It meant a lot to Grahovac that Wojnarowski took the time out of his day multiple times to come see him play. Grahovac is the type of guy who doesn’t care about the notoriety of other people, but he truly just cares about the type of human they are. The way Wojnarowski displayed himself stuck with Grahovac in a good way, and it was ultimately the biggest impact on his decision to commit to St. Bonaventure.
“I chose Bonaventure over other schools mostly because it just seemed like a good fit and they really believe in me. I have their full support, and that’s really huge for me. The relationship with Woj, he came to my first game, he came to my last game, he came to a couple of games in the middle of the season too. He’s always staying in contact and he’s just real down to earth,” said Grahovac.
As Grahovac prepares to join St. Bonaventure for the upcoming season, expectations are high for his contribution to the team’s performance in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
“I think I can create a matchup nightmare for whoever has to guard me,” said Grahovac. “I’m just hoping to go there and make a huge impact on the team in terms of winning. I don’t care about scoring. Whatever I have to do, I just want to win.”