Kosta Perović ( sr-Cyrl, 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He represented the Serbian national basketball team internationally. In the

2006 NBA draft The 2006 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2006, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. c ...

he was a second-round selection of 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 ...

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

, with whom he signed on August 3, 2007. A center, Perović was the tallest player taken in the 2006 NBA Draft. His game has been compared to that of Slovenian center Radoslav Nesterović.

Professional career

Europe

Perović was born in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

, in the

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. 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, lin ...

at the time of his being drafted by the

. After being drafted in 2006, Perović did not immediately come to the

. 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 o ...

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 after going without an appearance in Golden State's first seven games. He played for the Warriors' affiliate team, the Bakersfield Jam until January 6, 2008, when he was recalled to the Warriors' squad after they waived D. J. Mbenga. Perović played his first minutes in an

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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

, 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 guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

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. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

3.3 million

net income In business and Accountancy, accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and Amortization (a ...

with Pamesa Valencia of the Spanish ACB. After a mutual termination of the contract with Pamesa Valencia in June 2010, Perović signed with

FC Barcelona Bàsquet FC Barcelona Bàsquet (English: FC Barcelona Basketball), commonly referred to as FC Barcelona () and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional basketball team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a part of the FC Barcelona sport ...

. 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

club 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 the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

, 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 Serbian national basketball team. 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 champions ...

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

Post-playing career

Perović owns and operates a

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

orchard and a plantation of organic ethereal herbs.

Career statistics

Euroleague

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

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

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