Andrej Stojakovic

The former McDonald’s All-American didn’t make quite the immediate impact that many expected as a freshman at Stanford, and put his name in the portal following the dismissal of head coach Jerod Haase. Known as a skilled shot-maker and versatile scoring threat in high school, Stojakovic knocked down less than 33% of his attempted threes this year while averaging 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game.

More concerning though was his inefficiency inside the arc, as he finished just 39% of his attempts at the rim per Pivot Analysis, and on the defensive end of the floor, where he rated in the bottom 10% according to Synergy Sports. Both of those struggles are, at least partially, attributed to the physical transition to the college level. While Stojakovic was older than most college freshman, having turned 19 in August, his frame was still not fully mature and he didn’t have quite as much game experience against top competition.

Given time to catch-up in both areas, there are still lots of reasons for long-term optimism as his positional size, skill, and offensive versatility remain as intriguing as they were in high school.

Stojakovic is a highly skilled wing who has good positional size, is able to score from multiple levels, and even initiate offense as a guard. The son of former NBA all-star Peja Stojakovic, Andrej is a proven shot-maker like his dad with a full assortment of threes, pull-ups, and step-backs. Also not unlike his dad, he is working to perfect his own, semi-unconventional release, that comes up on the left side of his body. He’s very comfortable in the mid-post and mid-range areas where he creates separation and uses his positional size to score over top of smaller defenders. He’s not a naturally explosive athlete and while he’s going to have lots of opportunities to attack close-outs, he could better weaponize his handle in order to get paint touches more easily as a playmaker. He’s also not totally explosive at the rim or yet physically strong enough to absorb a lot of contact as a finisher. From a statistical standpoint, the 37% he shot inside the arc during 3SSB play was a pretty glaring outlier in terms of an area that needed improvement. Equally notable, are some current liabilities on the defensive end of the floor. Overall, the crux of the long-term evaluation and projection on Stojakovic depends on whether he is done growing yet. He’s already a bit older for his grade, having turned 18 this summer, but has he big feet, strong legs, and the type of undeveloped upper-body that suggests his frame could still be stretching out. If that proves to be the case, this is a prospect whose ascension might only be just beginning. Even if not, his combination of size, skill, and shot-making is already very rare, and taking his game to the next level just depends on the progression of his frame and consequent ability to pose more of a scoring threat inside the lane and effective presence on the defensive end of the floor.