Peja Stojaković

Player

Birthday June 9, 1977

Birth Sign Gemini

Birthplace Slavonska Požega, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia

Age 46 years old

Nationality Croatia

#12440 Most Popular

1927

Stojaković currently ranks 27th in this category.

1976

Stojaković made 1,760 three-point field goals in his career which ranked 10th all-time at the point of his retirement.

1977

Predrag Stojaković (Предраг Стојаковић, ; born 9 June 1977), known by his nickname Peja (Peđa, Пеђа, ), 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.

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.

1992

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.

1993

In 1993, at the age of 16, Stojaković moved to Thessaloniki, Greece.

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.

1994

With PAOK, he won the 1994–95 Greek Cup tournament.

1995

Stojaković's father stayed behind in his homeland, and fought in the Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, against the Croatian Army, until the fall of western Slavonia, in 1995, when he joined his son in Thessaloniki.

Many of Stojaković's relatives now live in Serbia.

At 15 years of age, Stojaković joined the Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) basketball club.

He also played in the European-wide secondary level FIBA European Cup (FIBA Saporta Cup)'s 1995–96 season's Final.

1996

After starting in Crvena zvezda and while playing for PAOK, Stojaković was drafted fourteenth overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 1996 NBA draft.

Stojaković was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the first round (14th overall pick) of the 1996 NBA draft while playing in Greece.

1997

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.

1998

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.

He continued to play there until the Kings signed him prior to the 1998–99 NBA lockout season.

2000

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.

After two seasons on the bench with Sacramento, 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.

2001

He finished second in voting for the 2001 Most Improved Player Award.

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.

He finished second in voting for the 2001 Most Improved Player Award.

In 2001–02, he played in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time.

2004

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.

2011

Stojaković won an NBA Championship in 2011 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

On 19 December 2011 he announced his retirement from playing professional basketball.

2014

On 16 December 2014 the Sacramento Kings retired his number.

Predrag "Peja" Stojaković was born into an ethnic Serb family, to parents 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, at the start of the Yugoslav wars.