Aleksej Pokuševski

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Aleksej Pokuševski
No. 17 – Oklahoma City Thunder
PositionPower forward / Center
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (2001-12-26) 26 December 2001 (age 20)
Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Listed height7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 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→Oklahoma City Blue
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Aleksej Pokuševski (Serbian Cyrillic: Алексеј Покушевски; born 26 December 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) and weighing 190 pounds (86 kg), he plays the power forward and center position.[1]

Born in Belgrade, Pokuševski was previously a youth player for the Greek club, Olympiacos. He debuted for their senior team in 2019, at age 17 and becoming the youngest EuroLeague player in club history. He was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft and traded to the 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 attended the Basketball Without Borders Europe camp, in Belgrade, Serbia.[2] 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.[3]

Professional career[]

Olympiacos (2019–2020)[]

On 19 March 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.[4] 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.[5]

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.[6][7]

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.[8] 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,[9] before the league's season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

On 24 April 2020, Pokuševski declared for the 2020 NBA draft.[10] 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.[11][12] Following selection in the NBA draft, Pokuševski left Olympiacos on 24 November 2020.[13]

Oklahoma City Thunder (2020–present)[]

Pokuševski was selected with the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, becoming the youngest player selected in the draft.[14][15] Two days after the draft in November 2020, his draft rights were traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a three-team trade.[16] On December 9th 2020, Pokuševski signed with the Thunder.[17] On 3 February 2021, Pokuševski received his first assignment at Oklahoma City Blue, the affiliate team of Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA G League.[18] In his rookie season, he was the youngest active player in the NBA.[19] On 14 March, Pokuševski made his first NBA career start. He scored 23 points which includes five 3-pointers, grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and dished out 4 assists in a 128–122 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, becoming the third Thunder rookie (following Russell Westbrook and Darius Bazley) to post a 20–10 double-double. At 19 years and 78 days old, he became the youngest player in franchise history to score 20+ points while also setting the record for being the youngest player in league history with 20+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ 3-pointers made in a game. Pokuševski also became the second-youngest player in NBA history to make five 3-pointers in a game behind only LeBron James in 2004.[20][21]

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.[22]

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.[23]

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

NBA[]

Regular season[]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2020–21 Oklahoma City 45 28 24.2 .341 .280 .738 4.7 2.2 .4 .9 8.2
Career 45 28 24.2 .341 .280 .738 4.7 2.2 .4 .9 8.2

EuroLeague[]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2018–19 Olympiacos 2 0 2.9 .000 .000 .500 1.0 .5 .5 .0 .5 .0
2019–20 1 0 2 .000 — — .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 -2.0
Career[24] 3 0 2.7 .000 .000 .500 .7 .3 .3 .0 .3 -0.7

Personal life[]

Pokuševski's family originates from Prishtina, Kosovo. 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.[25]

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.[26] He was eligible to represent either Serbia or Greece in national team competitions, and he chose to represent Serbia.[27] His father Saša Pokuševski,[28] 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. ^ "Oklahoma City Thunder #17 Center Aleksej Pokusevski". nba.com/thunder/roster. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Jokic, Vucevic Headline Basketball Without Borders Europe 2018". global.nba.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  3. ^ "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 20 March 2019.
  4. ^ "2018-19 Regular Season Round 27 Olympiacos Piraeus 89 - 69 FC Bayern Munich". euroleague.net. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Aleksej Pokusevski became youngest ever Olympiacos player to debut in EuroLeague". eurohoops.net. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  6. ^ 2020 NBA Draft Profile: Aleksej Pokusevski.
  7. ^ Aleksej Pokusevski Injury History.
  8. ^ International Regular Season Stats - Per Game.
  9. ^ POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS EuroLeague 2019-20 STATISTICS.
  10. ^ Giviony, Jonathan. "Serbian forward Aleksej Pokusevski declares for NBA draft". espn.com. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  11. ^ O ‘’Ποκού’’ φέρνει ζεστό χρήμα στο ταμείο του Ολυμπιακού! (in Italian).
  12. ^ Aleksej Pokusevski's NBA buyout may reportedly near 1.5M.
  13. ^ "Pokuševski se oprostio od Olimpijakosa (VIDEO)". mozzartsport.com. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  14. ^ "NBA draft 2020: Five things to know about Aleksej Pokusevski, taken 17th overall by the Timberwolves". eu.usatoday.com. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  15. ^ "'It was perfect': Rookie Aleksej Pokusevski excited to be in OKC". okcthunderwire.usatoday.com. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Thunder Acquires Draft Rights to Aleksej Pokuševski, James Johnson and 2024 Second-Round Draft Pick". NBA.com. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Thunder Signs Aleksej Pokuševski". NBA.com. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Thunder Assigns Four to Blue". NBA.com. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  19. ^ "OKC Thunder: Aleksej Pokusevski viewed as a 'player to watch' in fantasy". thunderousintentions.com. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  20. ^ Reporter, Nick Gallo | Broadcast; Editorokcthunder.com, Digital. "By the Numbers: Thunder Comes Back, Poku Soars". Oklahoma City Thunder. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Poku's double-double, 3-point barrage leads Thunder over Grizzlies". OKC Thunder Wire. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  22. ^ "Aleksej POKUSEVSKI at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  23. ^ "2019 Serbia U18 - Pokusevski". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  24. ^ POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ Career Stats EuroLeague.
  25. ^ "Zapamtite ovo ime – Aleksej Pokuševski VIDEO". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  26. ^ The progress card of 10 European NBA draft prospects.
  27. ^ "About Aleksej Pokusevski". nba.com. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  28. ^ Sasa Pokusevski.

External links[]

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