List of Serbian NBA players
List of Serbian players From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of Serbian basketball players that play or have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
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The first American player of Serbian descent to play in the NBA was Bato Govedarica, who played 23 games for the Syracuse Nationals during the 1953–54 NBA season.[1] Dražen Dalipagić was the first player to come from Serbia to be on trial with an NBA team, with the Boston Celtics in 1976, but, despite general manager Red Auerbach calling him an "NBA star material", he wasn't signed due to his "inability to communicate with the coach and his fellow players".[2] Center Vlade Divac and forward Žarko Paspalj were the first Serbian players to play in the NBA, in the 1989–90 season. In his second season, Divac became the first Serb to play in the NBA finals. In 2004, Darko Miličić became the first basketball player from Serbia to win an NBA championship. Since then, Predrag Stojaković, Ognjen Kuzmić, Nemanja Bjelica, and Nikola Jokić won the league in 2011, 2015, 2022, and 2023, respectively.
Nikola Jokić is the Serbian player with most NBA honours and is the first Serb, and only the third European, to win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. In 2022, Jokić was named the NBA MVP for the second year in a row, becoming the 13th player to win the award in consecutive seasons, as well as the second European player to win the award more than once, joining Giannis Antetokounmpo.[3] In 2024, Jokić became the first non-American player to win the MVP award three times. In 2023, he became the first Serbian to be named Finals MVP.[4]
Active players
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Perspective
The following is a list of current NBA players.
- Note: This list is correct through the start of the 2024–25 season.
Former players
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The following is a list of former NBA players.
Players who are still active overseas
Drafted players
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The following is a list of drafted players who have never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game.
Undrafted Summer League players
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The following is a list of undrafted players who have never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game, but have played in the NBA Summer League or its predecessors.
Players with Serbian citizenship or parentage
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Perspective
The following is a list of players, that play or have played in the NBA, who have citizenship of Serbia or Serbian parentage or who are Serbs of former Yugoslav republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia).
| * | Denotes player who is still active in the NBA |
- Note: This list is correct through the start of the 2024–25 season.
See also
Notes
- Details
- 1) November 6–12 2017,[13] 2) April 2–8 2018,[14] 3) October 16–21 2018,[15] 4) December 31 – January 6 2019,[16] 5) January 28 – February 3 2019,[17] 6) February 3–9 2020,[18] 7) January 18–24 2021,[19] 8) January 25–31 2021,[20] 9) March 15–21 2021,[21] 10) January 17–23 2022,[22] 11) March 28 – April 3 2022,[23] 12) December 12–18 2022[24] 13) October 24–29 2023[25] 14) April 8–14[26] 15) November 4–10[27] 16) December 30 – January 5[28] 17) February 3 – February 9[29]
- The Kings renounced their draft rights to Bodiroga in July 2017, ten years after his retirement as a player.[67]
- Other nationalities, ethnic groups
- Vukčević is born in Italy to Bosnian-Serbian father and Swedish mother.
- Also holds the Greek citizenship
- Born in SR Montenegro, Yugoslavia
- Born in SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia
- Born in SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
- Stefanović is born in the United States to Serbian father. Also, holds American citizenship.
- Vučević is born in Switzerland to Serbian parents from Montenegro and Bosnia. Also, holds Belgian citizenship.
- Ethnic Bosniaks of Serbia
References
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