Nachbar started his professional career by joining the Olimpija Ljubljana basketball club in the 1997–98 season. He played with Olimpija in Europe's top-level competition the EuroLeague, where he averaged 7 points and 2 rebounds per game. In the 2000–01 season he signed with Benetton Treviso basketball club, as the youngest Italian League player. With Benetton, he averaged 4 points and grabbed 2 rebounds in the EuroLeague. In the next season, he helped Benetton get to the Final Four of the EuroLeague, as he improved his statistics to 13 points and 4 rebounds per game. In his best game of the season, against Idea Slask Wroclaw, he scored 28 points, hitting 6 three-pointers. He won the Italian League championship and the Italian Supercup in 2002.
NBA
Nachbar was selected by the Houston Rockets as the 15th overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. He played for the Rockets for three seasons, but only averaged about 10 minutes per game. In 2004, he went to the New Orleans Hornets, where he averaged about 8 points in 21 minutes per game. During the 2004–05 NBA season, he scored 21 points against his former team, the Rockets, which was a career high. In the 2005–06 season, however, he had a difficult time getting off the bench once again was traded to the New Jersey Nets just before the trading deadline in exchange for Marc Jackson, Linton Johnson, and cash considerations. He had a great season with New Jersey as the team's 6th man, making many contributions to the club before they lost in the Eastern Conference semis to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nachbar's final NBA game was played on April 16, 2008, in a 94–105 loss to the Boston Celtics where he recorded 11 points, 1 assist and 1 block.
Return to Europe
On July 20, 2008, Nachbar returned to Europe when he signed a 3-year €9.6 million euros net income contract with the Russian Superleague club Dynamo Moscow,[1][2] giving him one of the most expensive contracts in European pro basketball history. The contract also included opt out clauses after each season. He averaged 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.4 steals in Europe's second-level competition, the EuroCup, during the 2008–09 season.[3]
Nachbar opted out of his contract with Dynamo Moscow on May 17, 2009. In July 2009, he signed a 2-year contract with a team option for the second year with the Turkish League club Efes Pilsen.[4][5] He averaged 6.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague in the 2009-10 season.[6] In his second year with Efes, Nachbar improved his stats in the EuroLeague to 8.3 points and 2.8 rebounds. On June 24, 2011, Nachbar announced via Twitter that he won't stay for a third season with the team.[7]
Nachbar started the 2011–12 season out due to an ankle injury. After recovering from the injury, he was mentioned as a potential reinforcement for several NBA teams.[8][9] After not getting a contract in the NBA, Nachbar signed with Russian League team UNICS Kazan in January 2012, until the end of the season.[10] He wasn't able to perform well in UNICS, averaging only 3.1 PPG in the Russian league.
He was also a member of Slovenia's national team that played at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. EuroBasket 2013, which took place in his homeland of Slovenia, was his last one before his retirement from the national team.
