Aleksandar Radojević ( sr-cyr, Александар Радојевић, ;
/ref> born August 8, 1976) is a Bosnian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. Standing at , he played the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. Radojević represented the

Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national basketball team (Bosnian language, Bosnian: ''Košarkaška reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine'' / Кошаркашка репрезентација Босне и Херцеговине) represents Bosnia ...

internationally.

Early life

Radojević was born in either

Herceg Novi Herceg Novi (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Херцег Нови, ) is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of ...

, or Bijela,

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, or

Trebinje Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica river in the region of East Her ...

, in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, all in the now former

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He only started playing basketball at age 16 after playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

as a youngster.

Career

Radojević started his career with Cetinje outfit KK Lovćen where he spent the 1995–96 season. For the next 1996–97 season he moved to Budućnost Podgorica where he sporadically played in a number of games. A

, Radojević signed a

national letter of intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to play for

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

's men's basketball in the early part of 1997. Radojevic never played for Ohio State because the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

declared him ineligible for accepting around $9,000 (or $13,000O'Brien fired for alleged NCAA violations
/ref>) to play for Budućnost in 1996. He thus ended up at Barton County Community College where he spent the next two seasons. After a year at Barton County CC where he averaged over 4 blocks per game, accusations surfaced that Radojević had reportedly been given several thousand dollars to move to

after his freshman season which resulted in coach Jim O'Brien getting fired and Radojevic being declared ineligible to play collegiately.FIBAEurope.com Player Profile
/ref> O'Brien had given Radojević $6,700 ($6,000 of his own cash in $50 and $100 bills) in 1999,O'Brien: Player was ineligible when loaned cash
/ref> but had lied about it and tried to cover it up. O'Brien was fired June 8, 2004. O'Brien said he gave Radojević the loan in 1999 because the player's father was dying and the family had no money for medical treatment or the funeral.Judge: Ohio State improperly fired ex-coach O'Brien
/ref> O'Brien subsequently sued Ohio State for wrongful termination. He contended that he knew Radojevic could never suit up for Ohio State due to having played professionally, and that the loan was made for humanitarian reasons—a contention supported by Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger and lead investigator Steve Duffin. NCAA infractions committee chairman David Swank testified that O'Brien had not violated NCAA rules by making the loan. O'Brien was ultimately awarded $2.4 million in damages.

NBA

Radojević then entered his name in the

1999 NBA draft The 1999–2000 NBA season, 1999 NBA draft was held on June 30, 1999, at the MCI Center (now Capital One Arena) in Washington, D.C. It was the first draft in which four players from the same college were picked in the first round, with Elton Bran ...

and was selected by the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

in the first round. His first season in the NBA in 1999–2000 was not a happy one—after appearing in only three games recording 2.3 ppg and 2.7 rpg he got injured and missed the remainder of the campaign. In the summer of 2000, he played in the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league. Back with the Raptors for the 2000–01 season he fared even worse than in his rookie season, as the combination of bad form and nagging injuries kept him out of the lineup completely. He did not record a single minute of action in the season before the Raptors decided to trade him to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

on January 12, 2001, along with

Kevin Willis Kevin Alvin Willis (born September 6, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player mostly known for playing with the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 7-foot power forward/ center. Excluding playe ...

Garth Joseph Garth McArthur Fitzgerald Joseph (born August 8, 1973) is a Dominican former professional basketball player. At 7'2" and 315 pounds, his physique was often compared to that of Shaquille O'Neal, especially when he was a young and raw-skilled cent ...

, and a second-round draft choice, in exchange for Keon Clark,

Tracy Murray Tracy Lamont Murray (born July 25, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who works as an analyst with the UCLA Sports Network for all of the games during the UCLA Bruins' basketball season. Tracy is also a part-time analyst ...

, and Mamadou N'diaye. However, things did not improve much for Radojević in Denver either as he sat out the remainder of the 2000–01 season without appearing in any games for the Nuggets. On October 22, 2001, before the start of the 2001–02 season, Denver shipped him off to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

along with

as part of a three-way trade that saw Scott Williams join the Nuggets.NBA.com Player Profile
/ref> Radojević's time with Milwaukee was more of the same and two months into the season he was waived without recording any minutes played.

Back to Europe

In December 2001, Radojević signed with Slovenian team Olimpija Ljubljana that competed in the

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

and the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

. He appeared in seven Euroleague games for them (3.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg) as well as in nine Adriatic League games (4.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg) before he was on his way out barely 3 months after arriving. Radojević's next stop was with Basket Livorno of the Italian League where he spent the remainder of the 2001–02 season (9 games, 3.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg). For the 2002–03 campaign, Radojević signed with

Telekom Baskets Bonn Telekom Baskets Bonn is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bonn, Germany. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, which is German basketball league system, the highest level pro basketball league in Germany. The club's s ...

of the German Bundesliga. His stats finally somewhat improved as he featured in 26 domestic league games (8.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and ten

ULEB Cup EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

matches (6.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg). Over the summer of 2003, Radojević moved to

PAOK Thessaloniki PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

of the Greek League where he spent the entire 2003–04 season.

Brief return to the NBA

Radojević played twelve games for the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

in the 2004–05 season.

Third stint in Europe

Radojević later played professionally in Poland for

Prokom Trefl Sopot Arka Gdynia, also known as AMW Arka Gdynia for sponsorship reasons, is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from Akademią Marynarki Wojennej. Historically t ...

, in Greece for Olympia Larissa (2005–06 season), and in Cyprus (

APOEL Nicosia APOEL (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a major Cypriot multi-spo ...

, Keravnos Keo Nicosia).

National team career

Radojević represented

at the 2005 EuroBasket.2005 Eurobasket Division A: Aleksandar Radojevic
/ref>

References

External links