Peja Stojakovic

Lore & Background

After starting in Crvena zvezda and while playing for PAOK, Stojaković was drafted 14th overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 1996 NBA draft. In the NBA, he had a breakthrough season in 2000–01, 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 ended his NBA career in 2011 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. He won the NBA Three-Point Contest two times during the All-Star Weekend competitions. Stojaković helped to lead the senior FR Yugoslavian national team to gold medals in the 2001 FIBA EuroBasket and the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

Considered one of the greatest European basketball players of all time, 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. On 19 December 2011, Stojaković announced his retirement from professional basketball.

On 16 December 2014, the Sacramento Kings retired his number. As an executive, he has held multiple positions in the Sacramento Kings' front office.

Reader's Guide

Stojaković was born into an ethnic Serb family to Miodrag and Branka Stojaković in Požega, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The Stojakovićs hail from the Papuk mountain region. However, his family later fled to Belgrade, Serbia at the start of the Yugoslav wars. In 1993, at the age of 16, Stojaković moved to Thessaloniki, Greece.

His father stayed behind in his homeland and fought in the Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina against the Croatian Army. In 1995, he joined his son in Thessaloniki. Many of Stojaković's relatives reside in Serbia. At 15 years of age, Stojaković joined the Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) basketball club.

With Red Star, he played in 2 senior men's level seasons (1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons). With the club, he also won a FR Yugoslav national championship, in the 1992–93 season. In the 1993–94 season, he only played in the FR Yugoslav national cup tournament. With Red Star, he played in a total of 39 games, in which he scored a total of 113 points, for a scoring average of 2.9 points per game.

Stojaković moved to Greece in 1993, at the age of 16, and joined the Greek League club PAOK Thessaloniki one year later. With PAOK, he won the 1994–95 Greek Cup tournament. He also played in the European-wide secondary level FIBA European Cup (FIBA Saporta Cup)'s 1995–96 season's Final. Stojaković scored a memorable last-second three-pointer against Olympiacos, in Piraeus, in a 1998 Greek League playoff semifinals series, which won the game for PAOK, by a score of 58–55.

That victory, which ended the five-year reign of Olympiacos as Greek League champions, allowed PAOK to face Panathinaikos in the league's finals series, although the club had a disadvantage in home games, and ultimately lost the five-game series (and the league's championship) 3–2. Stojaković, who was closely guarded throughout the series by his future head coach in New Orleans, Byron Scott, who was wrapping up his basketball playing career, as one of Panathinaikos' key players, did not play at his normal level.

In his final season with PAOK, Stojaković averaged 23.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game in the Greek League, and 20.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in the European-wide top level EuroLeague's 1997–98 season.