Aleksej Pokuševski

Aleksej Pokuševski (Serbian Cyrillic: Алексеј Покушевски; born December 26, 2001) is a Serbian professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), he plays both forward and a center position.

Aleksej Pokuševski
No. 17 – Oklahoma City Thunder
PositionPower forward / Center
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (2001-12-26) December 26, 2001
Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Listed height7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2020 / Round: 1 / Pick: 17th overall
Selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Playing career2019–present
Career history
2019–2020Olympiacos
2019–2020→Olympiacos B
2020–presentOklahoma City Thunder
2021–present→Oklahoma City Blue
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Born in Belgrade, Pokuševski shone as a youth player for the Greek club, Olympiacos. He debuted for their senior team in 2019, at age 17, becoming the youngest EuroLeague player in club history. He was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 17th pick in the 2020 NBA draft and traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Early career

Pokuševski grew up in Novi Sad, where he started to play youth basketball for local clubs, KK Kadet, KK NS Stars, and Vojvodina. In 2015, Pokuševski joined the youth system of Olympiacos. In 2017, he participated in the Jordan Brand Classic camp. In August 2018, he participated at the Basketball Without Borders Europe camp, in Belgrade, Serbia.[1] In February 2019, Pokuševski was invited for the NBA All-Star Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Charlotte, North Carolina, but eventually missed the event after being rejected for US Visa.[2]

Professional career

Olympiacos (2019–2020)

On March 19, 2019, Pokuševski made his EuroLeague debut with Olympiacos, in a 89–69 win over the German club Bayern Munich, during the EuroLeague's 2018–19 season. He recorded 1 point, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, in one minute played during the game.[3] Pokuševski became the youngest senior men's Olympiacos player to ever debut in the EuroLeague. At 17 years and 83 days old, he replaced Georgios Printezis, who had previously debuted in the EuroLeague, at the age of 17 years and 229 days, as the club's youngest ever EuroLeague player.[4]

For the 2019–20 season, Pokuševski was assigned to play in the Greek A2 League, the country's second-tier league, with Olympiacos' reserve team, Olympiacos B. He initially played for the senior EuroLeague club's practice squad. During the season, Pokuševski missed almost 3 months of playing time, due to a knee injury.[5][6]

Pokuševski started in eight of his 11 appearances in the Greek A2, averaging 10.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.8 blocks in 23.1 minutes per game. He shot 40.4 percent from the field, 32.1 percent from 3-point range, and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.[7] In the middle of the season, Olympiacos' main EuroLeague team was riddled with injuries, and Pokuševski was called up to the senior team. He played two minutes in his only EuroLeague game of the season,[8] before the league's season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

On April 24, 2020, Pokuševski declared for the 2020 NBA draft.[9] Pokuševski's Olympiacos contract lasts through the end of the 2023–24 season. The contract's buyout clause for the NBA is €1 million, if he is a top 20 draft pick, or €1.5 million, if he is a top 14 lottery pick.[10][11] Following selection in the NBA draft, Pokuševski left Olympiacos on November 24, 2020.[12]

Oklahoma City Thunder (2020–present)

Pokuševski was selected with the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.[13] Two days after the draft in November 2020, his draft rights were traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a three-team trade.[14] On December 9, 2020, Pokuševski signed with the Thunder.[15] On February 3, 2021, Pokuševski received his first assignment at Oklahoma City Blue, the affiliate team of Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA G League.[16]

National team career

Pokuševski was a member of the Serbian national under-17 team that competed at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 World Cup, in Argentina. Over seven tournament games, he averaged 7.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 3.0 blocks per game.[17]

Pokuševski was a member of the Serbian national under-18 team that competed at the 2019 FIBA Under-18 European Championship, in Volos, Greece. Over seven tournament games, he averaged 10.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.7 steals, and 4.0 blocks per game.[18]

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.

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2018–19 Olympiacos 202.9.000.000.5001.0.5.5.0.5.0
2019–20 102.000——.0.0.0.0.0-2.0
Career[19] 302.7.000.000.500.7.3.3.0.3-0.7

Personal life

Pokuševski's family originates from Priština, AP Kosovo and Metohija. Due to the Kosovo War in 1999, his family escaped to Podgorica (nowadays in Montenegro), and moved to Belgrade, Serbia, afterwards, where Pokuševski was born in 2001. Thereafter, Pokuševski and his family permanently moved to Novi Sad.[20]

After signing a youth team contract with the Greek basketball club Olympiacos, Pokuševski moved to Greece in 2015, at the age of 13. While playing in Greek competitions, he counts as a native Greek domestic player, since he started competing in Greek competitions before the age of 14.[21] He was eligible to represent either Serbia or Greece in national team competitions, and he chose to represent Serbia.[22] His father Saša Pokuševski,[23] is a former professional basketball player and a coach. His father played basketball with KK Priština, and coached KK Novi Sad.

See also

References
  1. "Jokic, Vucevic Headline Basketball Without Borders Europe 2018". global.nba.com. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  2. "2019 NBA All-Stars Nikola Jokić and Nikola Vučević, Deandre Ayton and Bogdan Bogdanović to coach top international prospects at fifth annual Basketball Without Borders Camp". pr.nba.com. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  3. "2018-19 Regular Season Round 27 Olympiacos Piraeus 89 - 69 FC Bayern Munich". euroleague.net. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  4. "Aleksej Pokusevski became youngest ever Olympiacos player to debut in EuroLeague". eurohoops.net. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  5. 2020 NBA Draft Profile: Aleksej Pokusevski.
  6. Aleksej Pokusevski Injury History.
  7. International Regular Season Stats - Per Game.
  8. POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS EuroLeague 2019-20 STATISTICS.
  9. Giviony, Jonathan. "Serbian forward Aleksej Pokusevski declares for NBA draft". espn.com. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  10. O ‘’Ποκού’’ φέρνει ζεστό χρήμα στο ταμείο του Ολυμπιακού! (in Italian).
  11. Aleksej Pokusevski's NBA buyout may reportedly near 1.5M.
  12. "Pokuševski se oprostio od Olimpijakosa (VIDEO)". mozzartsport.com. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  13. "NBA draft 2020: Five things to know about Aleksej Pokusevski, taken 17th overall by the Timberwolves". eu.usatoday.com. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  14. "Thunder Acquires Draft Rights to Aleksej Pokuševski, James Johnson and 2024 Second-Round Draft Pick". NBA.com. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  15. "Thunder Signs Aleksej Pokuševski". NBA.com. December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  16. "Thunder Assigns Four to Blue". NBA.com. February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  17. "Aleksej POKUSEVSKI at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup". fiba.basketball. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  18. "2019 Serbia U18 - Pokusevski". fiba.basketball. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  19. POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ Career Stats EuroLeague.
  20. "Zapamtite ovo ime – Aleksej Pokuševski VIDEO". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  21. The progress card of 10 European NBA draft prospects.
  22. "About Aleksej Pokusevski". nba.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  23. Sasa Pokusevski.
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