After 13 seasons, Peja Stojakovic has announced his retirement. Peja leaves the game fourth on the all-time list of three-pointers made. He won two All-Star Weekend three-point contests, a Eurobasket championship, a World Basketball Championship, and, last year, an NBA title with the Mavericks. Peja finished second in the league in scoring in 2003-4, and opened the eyes of an entire generation of Sacramento women to a rawer, more hirsute brand of male beauty. He proved you could be a successful, even dominant NBA player while still looking like a college student’s semester-abroad boyfriend, giving hope to countless Gallinaris, Vujacics, and Tskitishvilis over the years.
While Scott Pollard was the first of the 2002 Kings to win a title, Peja has the distinction of being the first of those former Kings to actually take the court in a winning Finals series. Peja will probably be able to drain 25-footers for another decade, but persistent back and neck problems are forcing him out of the NBA.
Doviđenja, Peja.
