Serbian Basketball Players in the NBA

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”299"]

A basketball hoop and net[/caption]

Regardless of lifestyle, sports are a common denominator of people all around the world. Watching or attending a sporting event can provide a social setting that fosters new friendships and elevates existing ones.

Although soccer may arguably be the most popular sport in the world, basketball has gained popularity in recent years. The National Basketball Associations’s Basketball Without Borders has brought together players, coaches, and other officials all over the world to promote the sport. Due to this effort and other factors, basketball is now more popular around the world than it has ever previously been in history.

Each year more and more basketball players from around the globe travel to the United States to try their hand at playing in the NBA. Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia) has produced many professional-level basketball players in the last twenty years who have stood out as exceptional.

Predrag Stojakovic, Aleksandar Pavlovic, and Vlade Divac have all become common names when referencing well-known Serbian NBA basketball players. All three players participated in European leagues before advancing to the NBA. Pavlov played for the YUBA League, which is the top-level basketball league played in Serbia and Montenegro. Stojakovic played for the professional basketball department of the Greece multi-sport club known as POAK B.C. Before joining the NBA, Divac was a member of Partizan Belgrade, which is the most successful basketball club in Serbia.

Stojakovic and Pavlovic both play the small forward position, and have spent a few years of their careers with both the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Hornets. Although Stojakovic and Pavlovic have respectively played for five and eight NBA teams, they both seem to be known primarily for their roles on one specific team. For instance, Stojakovic is mostly known for his time with the Sacramento Kings. He had a breakthrough during the 2000–01 season in which he was .400 from the three-point line. He went on to improve throughout the years, and ultimately led the NBA with three-pointers during the 2003–04 season. Since this time, he has been known for being a three-point shooter. Pavlovic isn’t known for one specific skill, but is thought to be a good role player to Lebron James. He played with Lebron for five years, and throughout that time advanced from playing only three playoff games with the Cavaliers in 2005–06 to all twenty playoff games in 2007–08. He became a versatile role player because he played on a variety of teams; therefore, he learned how to assist basketball stars from Kevin Love to Lebron James.

There have been numerous professional basketball players from Serbia, but arguably the most well-known Serbian basketball player is Vlade Divac. Divac is now retired, but he spent over sixteen years in the NBA. After just four professional seasons in Europe, he was the most sought after European league player. In 1989, the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Divac. Under well-known stars Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Divac became an asset to the team. During his career, he became one of seven players in the NBA to record 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, and 1,500 blocked shots. To put this in perspective, he shares these stats with Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neil, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Garnett (to name a few). Along with his performances on the basketball court, Divac is also known for his humanitarian efforts off the court. He helps children in his native Serbia, and in 2008 he was appointed as a government advisor in Serbia for humanitarian issues. For his efforts, Divac was honored by the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

Basketball is growing in world popularity, and brings players from all over the world to play in the NBA. Serbia has contributed many notable players to the NBA and other professional basketball leagues around the world. Aleksandar Pavlovic, Predrag (Peja) Stojakovic, and Vlade Divac have helped shape, and ultimately promote, basketball as a multicultural phenomenon.