Nikola Peković

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Nikola Peković
20140101 Nikola Peković guarded by Anthony Davis (1).JPG
Peković (right) with the Timberwolves in 2014
No. 14 – Minnesota Timberwolves
Position Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1986-01-03) January 3, 1986 (age 38)
Bijelo Polje, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Montenegrin
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 307 lb (139 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2008 / Round: 2 / Pick: 31st overall
Selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Playing career 2003–present
Career history
2003–2005 Atlas (Serbia and Montenegro)
2005–2008 Partizan (Serbia)
2008–2010 Panathinaikos (Greece)
2010–present Minnesota Timberwolves
2011 Partizan (Serbia)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Serbia and Montenegro
U20 European Championship
Gold medal – first place 2006 Turkey Team
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Russia Team

Nikola Peković (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Пековић; born January 3, 1986) is a Montenegrin professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value)., he plays at the center position.

Professional career

Early years

Peković began playing basketball with a junior team from Podgorica at the age of 15.[1] In 2003, he moved to Belgrade, Serbia and signed his first professional contract with Atlas during the summer.

Partizan Belgrade (2005–2008)

After two years there, Peković joined the national champions Partizan in July 2005.[2] With Black and Whites, he won three consecutive Basketball League of Serbia titles, two Adriatic League and Radivoj Korać Cup titles. Peković was named the MVP of the Adriatic League Final Four in 2008. The same year, he also earned an All-Euroleague Second Team selection for leading Partizan to the competition's quarterfinals.

Panathinaikos Athens (2008–2010)

In the summer of 2008, Peković joined the Greek champions Panathinaikos.[3] He signed a 3-year contract worth €4.5 million net income. He averaged 13.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in just over 18 minutes per contest, helping Panathinaikos win 2008–09 Euroleague title. Peković consequently established himself as one of Europe's elite centers, being voted to the All-Euroleague First Team.[4] With PAO, he also won two Greek League titles and the 2009 Greek Cup.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2010–present)

Peković with the Timberwolves in 2011

Peković was selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Many draft experts considered him a top 10 pick, but due to his contract situation with his team in Europe, he was selected much lower. He was considered a lock to be drafted with the first pick of the second round because players selected in the second round are not subject to the rookie scale contracts of the first round. This meant that the team that drafted him would be able to pay him more than those players selected later in the first round. Due to the amount of money Peković was making in Europe already, he likely would not have made the jump to the NBA for the amount of money that could be paid to a late first round player. Two years later, he signed a three-year, $13 million contract with the Timberwolves.[5] As a rookie in the NBA in 2010–11, Peković averaged 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.

Peković with the Timberwolves in 2011

On August 16, 2011, Peković signed a contract to play for Partizan until the end of the 2011 NBA lockout.[6] Upon returning to Minnesota, through January 2012, Peković stepped in for an injured Darko Miličić to start center for the Timberwolves. He finished the 2011–12 season with 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per game. In voting for the Most Improved Player, Peković finished third behind Orlando's Ryan Anderson and Milwaukee's Ersan İlyasova.

On August 14, 2013, Peković re-signed with the Timberwolves to a five-year, $60 million deal.[7][8] On January 27, 2014, he suffered an ankle injury that hindered him for the rest of the season. He averaged a career-high 17.5 points and 8.7 rebounds over 54 regular season games.

During the 2014–15 season, Peković managed just 31 games due to a right ankle injury.[9] On April 8, 2015, Peković had surgery on his right Achilles tendon in hopes of addressing the pain in his bothersome right foot.[10]

On January 6, 2016, Peković made his season debut for the Timberwolves, playing for the first time since March 11, 2015. In 16 minutes of action off the bench, he scored 12 points in a loss to the Denver Nuggets.[11]

National team career

Serbia and Montenegro national team

While playing with the youth national teams of Serbia and Montenegro, Peković received the bronze medal at the 2005 European U20 Championship in Russia. He also won the gold medal with his generation at the 2006 tournament held in Turkey.

Montenegro national team

Peković with Montenegro in 2010

Peković represented the Montenegrin national team at the EuroBasket 2011 held in Lithuania. Over 5 tournament games, he averaged 13.0 points and 6.4 rebounds, as Montenegro finished the tournament after first phase.

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

† Denotes seasons in which Peković won the Euroleague

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11 Minnesota 65 11 13.6 .517 .000 .763 3.0 .4 .3 .5 5.5
2011–12 Minnesota 47 35 26.9 .564 .000 .743 7.4 .7 .6 .7 13.9
2012–13 Minnesota 62 62 31.6 .520 .000 .744 8.8 .9 .7 .8 16.3
2013–14 Minnesota 54 54 30.8 .541 .000 .747 8.7 .9 .6 .4 17.5
2014–15 Minnesota 31 29 26.3 .424 .000 .837 7.5 .9 .6 .4 12.5
Career 259 191 25.4 .521 .000 .759 6.5 .7 .5 .6 12.9

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2005–06 Partizan 14 2 18.0 .574 .000 .677 3.6 .3 .5 .4 7.1 5.9
2006–07 Partizan 20 3 13.5 .593 .000 .714 2.5 .2 .6 .3 4.8 3.3
2007–08 Partizan 23 14 26.5 .584 .000 .773 6.9 .8 .7 .6 16.4 19.6
2008–09† Panathinaikos 21 9 18.1 .634 .000 .775 3.8 .3 .3 .7 13.0 14.0
2009–10 Panathinaikos 13 10 21.6 .607 .000 .727 3.5 .5 .6 .4 14.8 14.9
2011–12 Partizan 7 7 27.2 .549 .000 .811 4.6 .7 .3 .3 15.4 16.7
Career 98 45 20.5 .594 .000 .757 4.3 .5 .5 .5 11.7 12.3

Administrative career

In September 2015, Peković accepted the offer by the Board of Directors of Partizan Belgrade to be the next team president, following the resignation of Predrag Danilović in late August.[12] Soon after taking the position, he named Petar Božić the new head coach, thus not offering Duško Vujošević a new contract.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Roster Review | Nikola Pekovic
  10. ↑ Nikola Pekovic has surgery on Achilles
  11. ↑ Gallinari, Nuggets snap 6-game skid with win over Wolves
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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