From 1990 to 1992, Republic of Serbia is a federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 2003 and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003 to 2006.
Both respective state, Montenegro and Serbia became sovereign in their own rights because of the secession of Montenegro from the union with Serbia last 2006.
Basketball in Serbia
Serbians love sports, especially team sports like football,water polo, volleyball, and in part of being enthusiasts of different kind of team sports, one of the most popular sports in the country is basketball.
Serbia has produced many players in the NBA with world class talents and athleticism. Most of serbian players that are in the NBA are either sharpshooters or finesse centers.
Serbian National Basketball Team has been very competitive in international basketball matches like FIBA and Summer Olympics. FIBA considers Serbian national basketball team as the successor of Montenegro and Serbio or of FR Yugoslavia. From 1946 until 1991, Serbia was part of Yugoslavian national team.
FIBA ranked serbian national basketball team 8th in the world along with other european countries. They garnered 2 gold medals in years 1998 and 2002, in their four FIBA world championship appearances.
In summer olympics, serbian national basketball team participated 3 times and had won a silver medal in 1996. In Eurobasket, they got 3 golds from 1995, 1997 and 2001, 1 silver from 2009 and 1 bronze from 1999 in their 8 appearances.
Serbian Team has always been competitive against any opponents in the top 10 world rankings. They have amazing talents in their lineups and some are NBA players.
Currently, there are 5 active NBA players from Serbia. All of them have a good reputation and has been recognizable throughout the world.
NBA Players from Serbia
The current active NBA players from Serbia are Predrag Stojakovic of the Dallas Mavericks, Vladimir Radmanovic of the Golden State Warriors, Darko Milicic of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nenad Krstic of the Boston Celtics and Aleksandar Pavlovic a free agent.
Stojakovic is the #14 draft pick of the Sacramento Kings in 1996, Radmanovic is drafted by the Sonics in 2001, Darko Milicic, the highest ever draft pick of a serbian player is #2 in the draft pick by the Detroit Pistons in 2003 along with Pavlovic by the Utah Jazz as the #19 draft pick and Krstic is #43 in 2002 draft by the New jersey Nets.
Other recognizable names of former serbian NBA players are Vlade Divac who played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets and Sacramento Kings, for 16 seasons. Another is Zeljko Rebraca who played 6 seasons in the NBA with Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers. Marko Jaric played for 7 seasons with Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies.
It is estimated all in all, there are 26 serbian players who have been a part the NBA, 5 of them were drafted but did not play.