The Sacramento Kings certainly have seen their share of star players stemming from Oscar Robertson, Nate Archibald, Mitch Richmond, Chris Webber, and Vlade Divac. Two out of the four players were apart of “The Greatest Show On Court” and quite possibly the most successful team in franchise history. Sure The Royals won a championship in 1951, but the lineup that included Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber, and Vlade Divac provided the city of Sacramento with the excitement and possibly the teams only hurdle from getting a NBA Championship was The Lakers teams that were lead by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal possibly one of the greatest duos to play alongside each other. One player that doesn’t get enough credit for The Kings success though is Small Forward Peja Stojakovic.
The Kings teams that included Stojakovic were mainly impressive because of their overall inside and outside game, and the best part of this team was how well Stojakovic and Chris Webber complimented each other. If you dared to double team Chris Webber he would make you pay with his ability to pass out of the post to Jason Williams, Mike Bibby, or Stojakovic and if you did leave Peja open you knew it would be the biggest mistake you made defensively. Stojakovic made an impressive 40% of his three pointers in his career, and averaged 17 PPG throughout his career as well. Unfortunately, injuries played a role in his numbers taking a dip towards the end of his career.
Stojakovic’s number will be retired on December 16th this season and will be the 11th number to be retired by the franchise. With the departure of the sharpshooter via trade back in 2005-2006 the team hasn’t seen the same success since, and the roster was shortly scrapped after that season. Having Stojakovic’s number retired will certainly be something special to see for any NBA fan especially for anyone that had the opportunity to watch him play. Reggie Miller and Ray Allen may be the greatest outside shooters of all time, but if Peja had the same longevity in the league that both of those players did I think Peja is in the conversation with those two as well.
Two bigger names always discussed as some of the most successful overseas players to come to The NBA we always hear Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli (rightfully so), but Stojakovic is almost an afterthought sadly. Hopefully this helps bring back some memories:
