Peja Drobnjak (born 27 October 1975) is a Montenegrin professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

scout and former player. At , he played at the power forward and center positions. Throughout his nineteen-year career, Drobnjak has spent three full seasons playing in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United ...

Professional career

Europe

Drobnjak started his professional career with

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: ** AK Partizan, athletics **Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling **Džudo Klub Partizan, judo ** FK Partizan, association fo ...

in the 1992–93 season. He played six seasons for Partizan, winning three national titles in a row (1995, 1996 and 1997). In his last year with the club, Drobnjak played in the EuroLeague Final Four, where they finished fourth, after losing in the semifinals to

Kinder Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

, and in the third-place game against Benetton Treviso. Before the 1998–99 season, Drobnjak signed with Efes Pilsen, in Turkey. Drobnjak stayed for the next three seasons with Efes.

NBA

Drobnjak was a second-round draft choice of the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

in the

1997 NBA draft The 1997 NBA draft took place on June 25, 1997, at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Vancouver Grizzlies had the highest probability to win the NBA draft lottery, but since they were an expansion team along with the Toronto ...

. During his time in the

, Drobnjak played two seasons for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conf ...

, one season for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, and one season for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

. In 2004, the Clippers made him available for selection by the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

. After his selection by the Bobcats, Drobnjak was subsequently traded to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for a 2005 second-round draft pick before playing a game for Charlotte.

Return to Europe

In July 2005, Drobnjak signed a three-year contract with Tau Cerámica in Spain. However, he was released after only a year, which followed by his signing a one-year contract with his former team

. In July 2007, he signed with Akasvayu Girona. In December 2007, he left Girona and signed with Beşiktaş Cola Turka for the rest of the season. In November 2008, Drobnjak returned to Efes Pilsen for the 2008–09 season. In the 2009–10 season, Drobnjak played in the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

with PAOK. In February 2011, he signed with Iraklis until the end of the season. However, he decided to retire later that month.

National team career

Drobnjak won gold medals at both the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and

2002 FIBA World Championship The 2002 FIBA World Championship was the 14th edition of the competition now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the international world championship for men's basketball teams. The tournament held by the International Basketball Federation i ...

s, and he also won a gold medal at the

EuroBasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a b ...

, while playing with the senior Yugoslav national team.

Post-playing career

In 2015, Drobnjak was named a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

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, 82 , , 69 , , 24.2 , , .412 , , .353 , , .791 , , 3.9 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .5 , , 9.4 , - , align="left" , 2003–04 , align="left" , L.A. Clippers , 61 , , 14 , , 15.6 , , .393 , , .306 , , .849 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .4 , , .4 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

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Playoffs

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