Aleksandar Radojević

One collector is trying to find a single signature from every man who ever played for the Jazz — all 370 of them, from the 1974 New Orleans team to today. For many of them, this page is the only one on the internet. Here is Aleksandar Radojević: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you own something he signed — or you know who might — there is a note at the foot of this page.

Basketball found him late — a 7-foot-3 kid from Yugoslavia who played football and water polo until age 16. Ruled ineligible by the NCAA over money he took at Buducnost, he detoured through Barton County Community College, went to Toronto in the first round in 1999, and lost two seasons to injuries. His NBA farewell was 12 games with the Jazz in 2004–05, folded into a long European career.

Behind the stat line sits a hard story. Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien handed him 6,700 dollars in 1999 because Radojevic's father was dying and the family could not pay for treatment or a funeral. The loan cost O'Brien his job — and later won him 2.4 million dollars in a wrongful-termination suit.

HOW HE CAME & WENTToronto's 12th pick in 1999 signed with Utah as a free agent on October 4, 2004, and the Jazz waived him three months later, on January 4.

Utah Jazz tenure

2004–05

Position

Center

Born

1976, Herceg Novi, Montenegro

Height

7′3″ (221 cm)

Weight

251 lb (114 kg)

College

Barton County CC

Drafted

1999, 1st round (No. 12), Toronto