Dragan Tarlać ( sr-cyr, Драган Тарлаћ, born May 9, 1973) is a retired Serbian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He also holds Greek citizenship. Standing at , he played as a center.

Professional career

Europe

After starting his senior pro career with his hometown club

KK Vojvodina Košarkaški klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Војводина, ), commonly referred to as KK Vojvodina or simply Vojvodina, is a professional basketball club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, and the major part of the Vojvod ...

, he transferred to

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

from

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. He stayed there for two seasons, which was enough for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

to notice his talent and offer him a move to

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

. With Olympiacos, he won 5 Greek League championships (1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97), 2 Greek Cups (1993–94, 1996–97) the 1996-97

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

championship, and the Triple Crown (1996–97). He was one of the best centers that has ever played for Olympiacos.

NBA

Tarlać was selected by the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

club the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

in the

1995 NBA draft The 1995 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1995, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It marked the first NBA draft to be held outside the United States and was the first draft for the two Canadian expansion teams that were added for 1995–96 ...

. He finally left Greece to go play in the NBA in the summer of 2000, when he took off for the United States to play with the

. His career in the

was not particularly successful, and he returned to Europe the following off-season, after winning the

FIBA EuroBasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a be ...

with the senior Yugoslavian national team.

Back to Europe

After leaving the NBA, and returning to Europe, Tarlać then spent his next two seasons with the Spanish League club

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, before finishing up his career with the Russian League club

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

National team career

It was with Olympiacos, that Tarlać made a name for himself, earning a call up to the senior FR Yugoslavia national squad (Serbia-Montenegro). For a while, there was a controversy over his national team status, because he took Greek nationality (under the name Dragan Konstantinidis) like many other Serbian players of the time did in the 1990s. The issue was finally straightened out, and he was allowed to compete for the senior Serbo-Montenegrin national basketball team at the

FIBA EuroBasket 1999 The 1999 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1999, was the 31st FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2000 Olympic Tournament, giving a berth ...

in France, along with his fellow countrymen

Peja Stojaković Predrag Stojaković ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Стојаковић, ; born 9 June 1977), known by his nickname Peja (''Peđa'', Пеђа, ), is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the assistant gener ...

and Milan Gurović, who were also in the same situation, having also taken Greek citizenship. His team won the bronze medal at the tournament. He also won the gold medal at the

with his national team.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 43 , , 12 , , 13.9 , , .394 , , .000 , , .758 , , 2.8 , , .7 , , .2 , , .4 , , 2.4 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 43 , , 12 , , 13.9 , , .394 , , .000 , , .758 , , 2.8 , , .7 , , .2 , , .4 , , 2.4

Personal life

His son, Luka (born 2002) is a basketball player, also. Luka was a member of the Serbia national under-16 team at the 2018 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship.

References

External links

*
Euroleague.net profileSpanish League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarlac, Dragan 1973 births Living people Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls draft picks Chicago Bulls players FIBA EuroBasket–winning players Greek Basket League players Greek expatriate basketball people in Spain Greek expatriate basketball people in the United States Greek men's basketball players Greek people of Serbian descent KK Crvena Zvezda executives KK Crvena zvezda players KK Vojvodina players Liga ACB players NBA players from Serbia Naturalized citizens of Greece Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players for Serbia and Montenegro PBC CSKA Moscow players Real Madrid Baloncesto players Serbian expatriate basketball people in Greece Serbian expatriate basketball people in Russia Serbian expatriate basketball people in Spain Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States Serbian men's basketball players Basketball players from Novi Sad Yugoslav men's basketball players Greek expatriate basketball people in Russia Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Greece Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in the United States Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbia and Montenegro men's basketball players Naturalised basketball players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Russia