SINGAPORE (Singapore) - Predrag Stojakovic played 13 years in the NBA, winning the title in 2011 and had his No. 16 retired by the Sacramento Kings. But ask “Peja” - as he is known in the game - what he remembers most about his playing career and his answer is clear.
"The best memories are from the national team," said the today 47-year-old, who was named to the 2024 Class for the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Considered as one of the greatest shooters in the world, Stojakovic hailed over the world and Europe in the early 2000s. He was crowned Most Valuable Player in guiding Yugoslavia to the title at the FIBA EuroBasket 2001. Stojakovic followed that up the next summer by helping Yugoslavia capture the crown at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2002 - being named to the All-Tournament Team in the process.
"Playing for the national team was definitely a dream. Growing up in Serbia the highest achievement was reaching the men's senior national team and representing our country in major competitions," said Stojakovic, who played for his country at the 2002 FIBA World Cup, three EuroBaskets and the 2000 Olympics.
"There are so many amazing memories. Just being around guys - we are all competitors. And then playing all around the world together for a competition after a month-long preparation and building a chemistry on and off the court. And on top of that if you have a good performance and at the end you are able to get a medal it's even better. But we always came into the program with a lot of joy."
Stojakovic and Yugoslavia took third place at the 1999 EuroBasket and then finished sixth at the 2000 Olympics and 2003 EuroBasket.
But Stojakovic admitted there were also some bad memories while he was playing for his country.
"The worst memories are if you are injured or if you put in the work and came close to something but you were not able to accomplish that. Those are the moments - when you believe you have a good team and then one or two injuries happen and you cannot go any further," he said.
"Overall like in any family, just like every team, the same for our national team, we were arguing, we were fighting for the betterment of the team. We were competing, but all that stayed within the closed doors of the locker room. Always when we came out we competed as a team, we competed as one. And most of the times we were fortunate to end up with the win."
The game the 2.08M (6'10") small forward remembers most was the 2002 World Cup Final - an 84-77 overtime victory over Argentina.
"The Final against Argentina in 2002 is the most memorable game of my career with the national team - just because that game had everything. It had so many ups and downs," Stojakovic remembered.
"We were up and then we were down. There was the moment when we thought we were going to lose the game. But we came back and it went to overtime. Missed free throws and stuff like that. Until the end, nobody knew. We end up winning the game but Argentina was definitely one of the best teams in the world and they proved that two years later, winning the gold medal at the Olympics in 2004."
Stojakovic collected 18.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists at his sole FIBA World Cup, including 26 points and 6 rebounds against Argentina in the title bout.
The Slavonska Pozega, Yugoslavia native looked back fondly on all the great opponents he faced during his five summers playing on the biggest stages in world basketball.
"Going back to 2001, we look back and playing against Dirk Nowitzki for Germany, Pau Gasol for Spain, Hidayet Turkoglu for the Turkish national team. There were so many good players playing for their countries and competing for their national teams. That's my generation we played against for so many years and competed against each other. Those are some of the toughest players I faced," he said.
Stojakovic also had major success in the NBA, winning the NBA crown with Dallas in 2011 after being named an All-Star three times while playing with the Sacramento Kings.
He also played for Indiana, New Orleans and Toronto in his career. Before heading to USA, Stojakovic starred for Crvena Zvezda Belgrade and then PAOK Thessaloniki. He won the Yugoslav League in 1993 and the Greek Cup in 1995. He was named the Greek League MVP in 1998 and enshrined into the Greek League Hall of Fame in 2022.
Stojakovic has a strong connection to Greece. He moved to Thessaloniki in 1993 at age 16 with his family before starring there with PAOK. Stojakovic also has a Greek wife and Greek citizenship, even serving in the Greek Army.
One of Stojakovic's children is Andrej Stojakovic, who is a highly-rated 20-year-old playing at the University of California, Berkeley. Andrej has yet to play for a national team and has both Serbian and Greek passports. Peja Stojakovic said he is leaving everything up to his son in terms of his future.
About which country he would like to see his son play for, the elder Stojakovic said: "That's an interesting question. For my son to be in that position he would make us super proud because it would mean that he's at a really high level of basketball if he's being invited for either of those two teams. His mother is Greek and I am Serbian. But it's his life, it's his path. I just want him to keep being himself and keep enjoying being a student, enjoying the game at Cal-Berkley and creating his own path."
Peja Stojakovic is really enjoying watching the current Serbia generation, especially after they finished second at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and then took bronze at the 2024 Olympics.
"I am super proud of our national team. I believe we have an amazing team - amazing players in (Nikola) Jokic and (Bogdan) Bogdanovic and other players who are having great roles on their own professional teams. The most important thing for that generation is to stay together, stay together and be able to build on that success. I think it will happen. To me, last year not having Jokic and reaching the World Cup Final was a huge success," Stojakovic said.
Extremely proud with the way Serbia competed
"This year, we were so close to beating America (in the Olympics Semi-Finals). They played a fantastic game for 36 minutes. I've never seen a better strategy executed against an American team than I did in that game - on both ends. They played with a lot of courage. They executed well. I thought we were really close. It just happened that they had so many good players, so many talented players that they came out on top in the last few minutes. Overall I am extremely proud they way they competed. For us, being third is a success."
Stojakovic said he has also enjoyed watching Germany the last two summers and the good chemistry 2023 world champions have built. Another team he watched with excitement was France and Victor Wembanyama.
"He's someone who is going to do special things down the road in the NBA and the national team," Stojakovic said of the 20-year-old French star talent.
He added that it is the likes of Wembanyama and other emerging talents that keeps the basketball world moving forward.
"Overall, that is the good thing about basketball, there is always good young players coming up, talented skilled players who are eager to perform at the highest level."
Players who are making their own special memories with the national team - like Peja Stojakovic did two decades ago.
FIBA