Peja Stojaković
Serbian basketball player (born 1977) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Predrag Stojaković (Serbian Cyrillic: Предраг Стојаковић, pronounced [ˌprêdraːɡ ˈstôjaːkoʋit͜ɕ]; born 9 June 1977), known by his nickname Peja (Peđa, Пеђа, pronounced [ˈpêd͡ʑa]), is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the assistant general manager and director of player personnel and development of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022.[1]
Standing at 6 ft 10 (2.08 m), Stojaković played mostly at the small forward position. He won the NBA Three-Point Contest two times, All-Star Weekend competitions. Stojaković made 1,760 three-point field goals in his career which ranked 4th all-time at the point of his retirement.[2] Stojaković currently ranks 27th in this category.[3]
After starting in Crvena zvezda and while playing for PAOK, Stojaković was drafted fourteenth overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 1996 NBA draft. In the NBA, he had a breakthrough season in 2000–01 following two seasons on the bench, averaging 20.4 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting .400 from three-point range in his first season as a starter. He finished second in voting for the 2001 Most Improved Player Award. A three-time All-star and a member of the 2004 All-NBA Second Team, Stojaković enjoyed success with the Kings reaching the 2002 Western Conference Finals. He also played for the Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Hornets and Toronto Raptors. Stojaković won an NBA Championship in 2011 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.
Stojaković helped to lead the senior FR Yugoslavian national team to gold medals in the 2001 FIBA EuroBasket and the 2002 FIBA World Championship. Often considered to be one of the greatest European basketball players ever, Stojaković was named the Euroscar Basketball Player of the Year by the Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport and the Mister Europa Player of the Year twice by the Italian sports magazine Superbasket. HoopsHype named Stojaković one of the 75 Greatest International Players Ever in 2021.[4]
On 19 December 2011 he announced his retirement from playing professional basketball.[5] On 16 December 2014 the Sacramento Kings retired his number.[6]