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Zaza Pachulia

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This article is about the Georgian basketball player. Not to be confused with Zsa Zsa Padilla.

Zaza Pachulia
Pachulia with the Golden State Warriors in 2017
Golden State Warriors
PositionConsultant
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1984-02-10) 10 February 1984 (age 40)
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityGeorgian / Turkish
Listed height6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight270 lb (122 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2003: 2nd round, 42nd overall pick
Selected by the Orlando Magic
Playing career1999–2019
PositionCenter
Number27
Career history
1999–2003Ülkerspor
2003–2004Orlando Magic
2004–2005Milwaukee Bucks
2005–2013Atlanta Hawks
2011Galatasaray
2013–2015Milwaukee Bucks
2015–2016Dallas Mavericks
2016–2018Golden State Warriors
2018–2019Detroit Pistons
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As executive:

Career NBA statistics
Points7,414 (6.8 ppg)
Rebounds6,315 (5.8 rpg)
Assists1,433 (1.3 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Zaza Pachulia (Georgian: ზაზა ფაჩულია; Georgian pronunciation: [zaza patʃʰulia] born Zaur Pachulia; 10 February 1984)[1] is a Georgian professional basketball executive and former player who is a basketball operations consultant for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Beginning his professional career in Turkey as a teenager, Pachulia was drafted in the second round of the 2003 draft by the Orlando Magic. He played for seven teams in his 16-year NBA career, winning two championships with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018. He also played for the Georgia national team, captaining them in multiple tournaments.[2] Pachulia also had a reputation of being a "dirty" player, notably injuring Kawhi Leonard during the 2017 playoffs.[3]

Professional career

Ülkerspor (1999–2003)

Pachulia started playing basketball at an early age in Georgia. He was approximately 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 meters) at the age of 13. He was scouted and recruited by the Turkish professional team Ülkerspor when he was a teenager. He became a member of the Georgian junior national basketball team at a young age, leading them at various tournaments.[4]

Orlando Magic (2003–2004)

Once he distinguished himself with Ülkerspor, Pachulia was drafted in the second round by the Orlando Magic during the 2003 NBA draft.

Milwaukee Bucks (2004–2005)

After being selected in the 2004 expansion draft by the Charlotte Bobcats, Pachulia was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played the 2004–05 season.[5] While with the Bucks, he averaged 6.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game off the bench.

Atlanta Hawks (2005–2011)

Pachulia with the Atlanta Hawks in May 2008

Pachulia signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks[6] in the 2005 off-season and became the Hawks' starting center, when he averaged 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game during the 2005–06 season. He began as the starting center during the 2006–07 season but later came off the bench. An on-court altercation between the relatively obscure Pachulia and Celtics star Kevin Garnett led one writer to dub Pachulia "Balboa" after the lead character from the Rocky series of movies.[7] Pachulia re-signed with the Hawks on July 13, 2009, agreeing to a multi-year contract.[8]

Galatasaray (2011)

During the 2011 NBA lockout, Pachulia signed with Galatasaray of the Turkish Basketball League.[9]

Return to Atlanta (2011–2013)

Pachulia returned to the Hawks in December 2011, playing with them until 2013.

Return to Milwaukee (2013–2015)

On July 17, 2013, Pachulia signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.[10] On March 20, 2015, he recorded 22 points and 21 rebounds in a 129–127 overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets. His 21 rebounds included 18 offensive rebounds, which marked an NBA season high and a Bucks franchise record.[11]

Dallas Mavericks (2015–2016)

On July 9, 2015, Pachulia was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a future second-round pick.[12] He made his debut for the Mavericks in the team's season opener against the Phoenix Suns on October 28, recording a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 111–95 win.[13] On December 26, he recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds against the Chicago Bulls, surpassing his 2014–15 season total.[14] On January 12, 2016, he recorded his 20th double-double of the season, and the 100th in his career, with 14 points and 12 rebounds in a 110–107 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.[15] Later that month, he came within 14,227 votes of knocking out San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard for a starting spot on the West All-Star team for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game.[16] On February 3, 2016, he recorded 10 points and 15 rebounds against the Miami Heat for his career-best 22nd double-double of the season. His previous best was 21 double-doubles, set with Atlanta in 2005–06.[17]

Golden State Warriors (2016–2018)

2016–17 season

On July 12, 2016, Pachulia signed with the Golden State Warriors.[18] On December 22, 2016, he had a season-best game with 15 points and 14 rebounds in a 117–101 win over the Brooklyn Nets.[19] Pachulia helped the Warriors finish the 2016–17 regular season with 67 wins. During Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs, he had an infamous closeout foot slide on Kawhi Leonard,[20] which ruled out Leonard for the rest of the series and effectively ended San Antonio's season.[21] While Pachulia denied that he intended to injure Leonard, he was instantly dubbed a villain by the public and media.[22] The Warriors went on to win the NBA championship after defeating the Cavaliers 4–1 in the 2017 NBA Finals. Pachulia made history for Georgia by becoming the first player from the country to win an NBA Championship.[23] The Warriors finished the playoffs with a 16–1 record, the best postseason winning percentage in NBA history.[24]

2017–18 season

On July 25, 2017, Pachulia re-signed with the Warriors.[25] On December 30, 2017, he scored a season-best 17 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists in a 141–128 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.[26]

In a game against the Thunder on February 25, 2018, Pachulia again caused controversy as he fell onto Russell Westbrook's knee after a play. Westbrook stated in an interview after the game that he believed Pachulia's fall was intentional with the intent of injuring his knee.[27] Teammate Kevin Durant later defended Pachulia stating that he had gotten his feet tangled up with Nick Young in the incident,[28] but Pachulia was criticized by many players, coaches and pundits such as Paul George,[27] Kyrie Irving,[29] Gregg Popovich,[30] describing the incident as yet another in a long list of controversial dirty plays in Pachulia's career. The NBA officially stated that they would not discipline Pachulia over the incident.[31] In June 2018, Pachulia won his second straight championship as a member of the Warriors, after they defeated the Cavaliers in a four-game sweep in the Finals.

Detroit Pistons (2018–2019)

On July 15, 2018, Pachulia signed with the Detroit Pistons.[32]

Executive career

On August 29, 2019, Pachulia retired from playing and re-joined the Warriors as a front office consultant in their basketball operations department.[33][34] He won his third NBA championship after the Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics in six games in the 2022 NBA Finals.

Personal life

Pachulia legally changed his first name from Zaur to Zaza.[1] He and his wife, Tika, have two sons, Davit and Saba, and a daughter, Mariam. Beginning in 2004, Pachulia hosted annual free summer basketball camps for children in different locations throughout Georgia until 2016 when he established a basketball academy in his native Tbilisi.[35]

In 2017, Pachulia received the Order of Honor from Republic of Georgia president Giorgi Margvelashvili.[36] He also holds Turkish citizenship.[2]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Orlando 59 2 11.3 .389 – .644 2.9 .2 .4 .2 3.3
2004–05 Milwaukee 74 4 18.9 .452 .000 .746 5.1 .8 .6 .5 6.2
2005–06 Atlanta 78 78 31.4 .451 .000 .735 7.9 1.7 1.1 .5 11.7
2006–07 Atlanta 72 47 28.1 .474 .000 .786 6.9 1.5 1.1 .5 12.2
2007–08 Atlanta 62 5 15.2 .437 .000 .706 4.0 .6 .4 .2 5.2
2008–09 Atlanta 77 26 19.1 .497 .000 .709 5.7 .7 .5 .3 6.2
2009–10 Atlanta 78 1 14.0 .488 .000 .650 3.8 .5 .5 .4 4.3
2010–11 Atlanta 79 7 15.7 .461 – .754 4.2 .7 .4 .3 4.4
2011–12 Atlanta 58 44 28.3 .499 – .741 7.9 1.4 .9 .5 7.8
2012–13 Atlanta 52 15 21.8 .473 .000 .757 6.5 1.5 .7 .2 5.9
2013–14 Milwaukee 53 43 25.0 .427 .000 .846 6.3 2.6 .8 .3 7.7
2014–15 Milwaukee 73 45 23.7 .454 .000 .788 6.8 2.4 1.1 .3 8.3
2015–16 Dallas 76 69 26.4 .454 .000 .768 9.4 1.7 .8 .3 8.6
2016–17† Golden State 70 70 18.1 .534 .000 .778 5.9 1.9 .8 .5 6.1
2017–18† Golden State 69 57 14.1 .564 .000 .806 4.7 1.6 .6 .2 5.4
2018–19 Detroit 68 3 12.9 .440 .000 .782 3.9 1.3 .5 .3 3.9
Career 1,098 516 20.3 .469 .000 .751 5.8 1.3 .7 .3 6.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008 Atlanta 7 0 15.0 .280 .000 .714 2.9 .3 .3 .0 4.1
2009 Atlanta 11 1 23.6 .415 – .762 6.9 .3 .5 .3 6.9
2010 Atlanta 11 0 14.6 .514 – .625 3.5 .3 .2 .6 4.6
2011 Atlanta 11 0 17.7 .478 – .773 4.9 1.2 .2 .1 3.5
2015 Milwaukee 6 6 21.5 .400 – .615 6.7 1.5 1.7 .5 6.7
2016 Dallas 5 4 22.4 .375 – .882 5.4 3.2 .6 .2 6.6
2017† Golden State 15 15 14.1 .533 .000 .765 3.8 .8 .5 .3 5.1
2018† Golden State 7 0 3.7 .571 – .750 1.7 .1 .4 .1 2.4
2019 Detroit 2 0 10.9 .333 – .500 4.5 .0 .0 .0 2.5
Career 75 26 16.3 .443 .000 .735 4.4 .8 .5 .3 4.9

EuroLeague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2001–02 Ülkerspor 13 1 7.4 .536 .000 .733 1.8 .2 .3 .1 3.2 3.7
2002–03 Ülkerspor 14 2 10.4 .467 .000 .625 2.9 .3 .5 .5 4.4 4.8
2011–12 Galatasaray 4 2 15.1 .389 .000 .600 4.5 .5 .5 .5 6.5 6.8
Career 31 5 10.0 .473 .000 .642 2.6 .3 .4 .1 4.2 4.6

National team

Source[37]

Year Competition GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003 EuroBasket qualification Preliminary Round 5 23.4 .511 .000 .750 6.8 1.0 2.0 .0 12.6
2003 EuroBasket qualification Qualifying Round 5 27.6 .468 .250 .576 10.8 .0 2.4 .6 15.6
2005 EuroBasket 2005 Division B 6 31.3 .595 .000 .760 13.0 1.8 1.8 1.0 21.0
2007 EuroBasket 2007 Division B 8 32.8 .452 .000 .722 8.9 1.9 1.3 1.9 19.9
2009 EuroBasket 2009 Division B 10 29.4 .508 .000 .671 8.5 1.6 1.2 1.4 17.9
2011 EuroBasket 2011 qualification 8 28.6 .476 .000 .676 7.5 1.8 .9 .5 15.8
2011 EuroBasket 2011 5 25.8 .472 .000 .857 4.4 .6 1.0 .6 13.6
2013 EuroBasket 2013 qualification 5 29.6 .574 .000 .657 7.6 1.0 .8 .2 18.6
2015 EuroBasket 2015 qualification 6 32.5 .466 .000 .725 7.8 3.3 1.5 .7 17.5
2015 EuroBasket 2015 6 26.7 .474 .000 .844 6.3 3.0 1.0 .3 13.5
2017 EuroBasket 2017 qualification 6 26.2 .475 .000 .921 7.7 4.3 1.2 .5 15.2
2017 EuroBasket 2017 5 26.1 .447 .000 .758 9.2 1.6 .8 .2 13.4

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Zaza Pachulia" (PDF). Milwaukee Bucks. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Atlanta Hawks: If NBA lockout lingers, Zaza Pachulia may play in Turkey". Archived from the original on 2011-09-10.
  3. ^ "Here's the history of Zaza Pachulia's dirty plays that Gregg Popovich was so mad about". Archived from the original on 2018-09-10.
  4. ^ "10 things to know about Mavs center Zaza Pachulia, including his fashion sense, fights with other NBA players". SportsDay. Dallas News. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  5. ^ Bobcats Acquire Draft Picks In Two Trades Archived 2010-03-21 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Hawks Sign Zaza Pachulia, Aug. 11, 2005; article retrieved March 21, 2007
  7. ^ HAWKS: Everything You Need To Know About...Hawks vs Celtics | Game 6 | May 2, 2008. Nba.com. Retrieved on 2017-07-15.
  8. ^ "HAWKS SIGN MIKE BIBBY, ZAZA PACHULIA". NBA.com. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
  9. ^ Galatasaray brings in Zaza Pachulia. Euroleague.net (2011-10-07). Retrieved on 2017-07-15.
  10. ^ Bucks Sign Free Agent Center Zaza Pachulia. Nba.com (2013-07-17). Retrieved on 2017-07-15.
  11. ^ Lopez, Nets pull out 3-overtime victory over slumping Bucks. Nba.com. Retrieved on 2017-07-15.
  12. ^ "Mavericks Acquire center Zaza Pachulia from Bucks". NBA.com. July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  13. ^ "8 Dallas players reach double figures, Mavs rout Suns 111–95". NBA.com. October 28, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  14. ^ "Barea hits career-high 7 3s, Mavericks top Bulls 118–111". NBA.com. December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  15. ^ "LeBron has 27, Cavs win 8th in row, 110–107 over Mavs in OT". NBA.com. January 12, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  16. ^ Duffy, Thomas (January 21, 2016). "Mavs C Zaza Pachulia Was 14K Votes Away from Being All-Star Starter". BleacherReport.com. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  17. ^ "Wade's bounce-back, Bosh's 20 lead Heat over Mavericks 93–90". NBA.com. February 3, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  18. ^ "Warriors Sign Free Agent Center Zaza Pachulia". NBA.com. July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  19. ^ "Zaza Pachulia 2016–17 Game Log". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  20. ^ Malinowski, Erin (May 16, 2017). "Kawhi Leonard's Injury Is a Shame, but Was Zaza Pachulia's Play Really Dirty?". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  21. ^ Bushnell, Henry (September 22, 2017). "The NBA is cracking down on dangerous Zaza-esque closeouts". Yahoo.com. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  22. ^ Bushnell, Henry (May 21, 2017). "Warriors' Zaza Pachulia, family threatened after Kawhi Leonard incident". USAToday.com. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  23. ^ "Zaza Pachulia becomes Georgia's first NBA champion". agenda.ge. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  24. ^ "Warriors (16–1) Record Best Postseason Winning Percentage in NBA History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  25. ^ "Warriors Re-Sign Curry, Durant, Iguodala, Livingston, Pachulia and West to Contracts". NBA.com. July 25, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  26. ^ "Curry makes season-best 10 3-pointers in return from injury". ESPN.com. December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  27. ^ a b "Russell Westbrook, Paul George call out Zaza Pachulia after dangerous fall". NBA.com. February 25, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  28. ^ Polacek, Scott (February 25, 2018). "Kevin Durant Defends Zaza Pachulia After Fall on Russell Westbrook: He's Clumsy". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  29. ^ Carbaugh, Dane (March 2, 2018). "Kyrie Irving calls Zaza Pachulia's fall on Russell Westbrook "unacceptable"". NBC Sports. Yahoo Sports. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  30. ^ Rapp, Timmothy (February 25, 2018). "Zaza Pachulia Says Russell Westbrook Calling Him a Dirty Player Is 'Childish'". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  31. ^ Carroll, Charlotte (February 26, 2018). "Zaza Pachulia Says Russell Westbrook Calling Him a Dirty Player Is 'Childish'". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  32. ^ "Detroit Pistons sign free agent Zaza Pachulia". NBA.com. July 15, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  33. ^ Kent, Austin (August 29, 2019). "ZAZA PACHULIA RETIRES, JOINS WARRIORS AS CONSULTANT". Slamonline.com. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  34. ^ "Warriors Announce Basketball Operations Promotions and Additions". NBA.com. August 29, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  35. ^ Zwerling, Jared (27 May 2016). "Inside Zaza Pachulia's New Sports Academy—with the Bucks Court on Its Way to Europe". National Basketball Players Association. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  36. ^ "Warriors Center Zaza Pachulia to Receive Order of Honor from Republic of Georgia". NBA.com. August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  37. ^ "Zaza Pachulia – EuroBasket (2015) – FIBA Europe". www.fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
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