Kosta Perović ( sr-cyr, Коста Перовић; born February 19, 1985) is a Serbian former 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 ...

player. He represented the

Serbian national basketball team Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation) ...

internationally. In the 2006 NBA draft he was a second-round selection of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, with whom he signed on August 3, 2007. A

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

, Perović was the tallest player taken in the 2006 NBA Draft. His game has been compared to that of Slovenian center

Radoslav Nesterović Radoslav () is a common Slavic masculine given name, derived from ''rad-'' ("happy, eager, to care") and ''slava'' ("glory, fame"), both very common in Slavic dithematic names. It roughly means "eager glory". It is known since the Middle Ages. Th ...

Professional career

Europe

Perović was born in Osijek,

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Sociali ...

, in the

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. He played basketball professionally for

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, link ...

at the time of his being drafted by the Golden State Warriors. After being drafted in 2006, Perović did not immediately come to the NBA. Rather, he played the 2006–07 season in the

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer of ...

NBA

On August 3, 2007, Perović was signed to a two-year contract worth about US$3.5 million with a team option for a third season by Golden State. On November 18, 2007, he was assigned to the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

after going without an appearance in Golden State's first seven games. He played for the Warriors' affiliate team, the

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's pop ...

until January 6, 2008, when he was recalled to the Warriors' squad after they waived

D. J. Mbenga Didier "D. J." Ilunga-Mbenga (pronounced Benga; born December 30, 1980) is a Belgian-Congolese former professional basketball player. He has also played for the Belgian national basketball team as he is a dual citizen of both his native countries. ...

. Perović played his first minutes in an NBA game with the Warriors on January 19, 2008 against the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

, in which he scored 4 points (on 2 of 2 field goal shooting) and 4 grabbed rebounds (2 offensive), as well as blocking a shot. In 7 games in the NBA, he averaged 1.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.

Spanish teams

After being waived by the

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

on September 12, 2008, Perović reportedly signed a three-year deal worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

3.3 million net income with

Pamesa Valencia Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spons ...

of the Spanish ACB. After a mutual termination of the contract with Pamesa Valencia in June 2010, Perović signed with FC Barcelona Bàsquet. In the 2009–2010 season, he averaged 8.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. On August 19, 2012, he signed a one-year deal with the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

club

Unicaja Málaga Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after th ...

. At the end of the season, Perović was waived by Unicaja Málaga.

Russia

In August 2013, Perović signed a one-year deal with Yenisey Krasnoyarsk of Russia. In July 2014, he extended his contract with Yenisey for one more season. In December 2014, he got injured and missed the rest of the season.

Return to Partizan and retirement

On September 29, 2015, he returned to Partizan Belgrade. Struggling to return to his previous form after few months of absence due to a knee injury, he retired from professional basketball on December 15, 2015. He appeared in 12 games of the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

, averaging 3.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

National team career

Perović played for the FR Yugoslavian U16 national team at the 2001 European Championship and won a gold medal. He began his senior national team career at the

EuroBasket 2003 The 2003 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2003, was the 33rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as the Europe qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics, giving a berth ...

when Serbia and Montenegro finished with 6th place. Perović has also been a member of the senior men's

. With them he won the silver medal at the

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

. In the following year, he was member of team that finished 4th at the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Turkey. At the

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 cha ...

in Lithuania, where he was capped, Serbia finished 8th.

Post-playing career

Perović owns and operates a cherry orchard and a small

pig farm Pig farming or pork farming or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food (e.g. pork: bacon, ham, gammon) and skins. Pigs are amenable to ...

Career statistics

Euroleague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, 12 , , 2 , , 13.2 , , .444 , , .000 , , .786 , , 3.3 , , .5 , , .3 , , .9 , , 4.5 , , 1.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , 9 , , 2 , , 22.0 , , .491 , , .000 , , .533 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .7 , , 6.9 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , 12 , , 9 , , 25.9 , , .432 , , .000 , , .623 , , 4.7 , , .9 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , 9.1 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , 13 , , 13 , , 26.3 , , .505 , , .000 , , .672 , , 4.4 , , .4 , , 1.8 , , .6 , , 10.4 , , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Partizan , 20 , , 16 , , 26.3 , , .500 , , .000 , , .718 , , 6.3 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 10.8 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, style="text-align:left;",

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

, 17 , , 8 , , 12.4 , , .610 , , .000 , , .694 , , 3.0 , , .3 , , .4 , , .5 , , 5.7 , , 6.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", FC Barcelona , 20 , , 11 , , 13.2 , , .531 , , .000 , , .786 , , 3.3 , , .5 , , .3 , , .9 , , 4.5 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 21 , , 2 , , 9.3 , , .439 , , .000 , , .731 , , 2.2 , , .2 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.3 , , 4.6 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 124 , , 63 , , 17.5 , , .495 , , .000 , , .683 , , 3.7 , , .6 , , .7 , , .7 , , 6.5 , , 7.8

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 7 , , 0 , , 5.4 , , .300 , , .000 , , .667 , , 1.9 , , .1 , , .0 , , .3 , , 1.4 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 7 , , 0 , , 5.4 , , .300 , , .000 , , .667 , , 1.9 , , .1 , , .0 , , .3 , , 1.4