You may know who Dallas Maverick’s star Luka Dončić is, but do you know his godfather was once a Toronto Raptor?
Before Arrival
Nestrović was selected 17th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1998 NBA draft. Known as “Rasho”, he played at the Center position. He remained with the Timberwolves for four years, but left to the San Antonio Spurs via free agency in 2003. Although the Timberwolves were offering him a similar contract worth $12 million more, Nesterović opted for the move for a shot at the NBA title, signing a six-year contract (see D Perko’s article). Spur’s coach Gregg Popovich at the time believed he would be the replacement for David Robinson. Rasho did win the NBA title with the 2004-2005 San Antonio Spurs.
Toronto Raptors (2006-2008): 193 GP, 6.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 0.9 APG, 18.5 MPG
On 21 June 2006, Nesterović, along with cash, was sent to the Toronto Raptors from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Matt Bonner, Eric Williams, and a 2009 2nd round pick (Jack McClinton was later selected).
Rasho was a welcome addition to the Raptors that did not have a traditional center. He was instrumental in the playoffs
The Departure and arrival again
On 9 July 2008, Rasho was traded by the Toronto Raptors with Maceo Baston, T.J. Ford and Roy Hibbert to the Indiana Pacers for Nathan Jawai and Jermaine O’Neal.
After a year with the Indiana Pacers, 30 July 2009, Rasho signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors for one more year, his final year in the NBA. He left in 2010-11 for Olympiakos of the EuroLeague for one more year before retirement.
Side Story – From Luka’s godfather to father, and Vlade Divac
Nesterović, being a fellow Slovenian, became the godfather of Luka Dončić.
On an interesting side note regarding fathers, Luka’s biological father, Saša Dončić, is a Slovenian professional basketball coach and former player.
Questions arose when Serbian Vlade Divac, the former NBA player and current general manager of the Sacramento Kings, passed on Slovenian Luka with the second overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. For a quick geography lesson, Serbia and Slovenia were both part of Yugoslavia before 1991 and both countries now are on friendly terms.
Last November, an article written by Peter Botte suggested that it was because Vlade Divac disliked Luka Dončić’s father that caused the Kings to draft Marvin Bagley III (Deandre Ayton went first to the Phoenix Suns) instead. Luka went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
The Card: 1998 Sage – Autographs #A36
SA•GE Collectibles, Inc., a small independent card company, describes themselves as operating in the same manner like small, independent breweries and wineries where making quality and unique product are the company’s mission.
Tom Geideman and Robert Sadlak were at ScoreBoard, Inc. serving as Director of Marketing and Director of Operations respectively. After ScoreBoard, Inc went into bankruptcy, they borrowed the first two letters of their last names to incorporate SA•GE in June of 1998.
Tom Geideman is well-known in the card industry as being responsible for creating the iconic 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card. He was interviewed on the 2018 trading card documentary, Jack of all Trades.
The 1998 SA•GE collection contained cards of players after the NBA draft. The card front shows a close-up of Rasho’s face, while he is pictured in a jersey with the sponsor “Kinder” at the back. There are no licenses shown on the card. Kinder is the company that makes “Kinder Surprise eggs”, a product brand line of Italian confectionery multinational Ferrero SpA. It had become the new sponsor of Italian basketball team Virtus Bologna in 1996, and with Rasho joining in 1997 (the year before being drafted in the NBA), and won the EuroLeague title.
This card was serial numbered to 455/999 hand-written on the holographic sticker. The card back provides no statistics and/or extensive player biographies.
Resources:
- D Perko. “Nesterović gave up millions to become an NBA League champion!” Kosarka.si, 7 February 2017. (Slovenian): https://www.kosarka.si/nesterovic-se-je-odpovedal-milijonom-da-bi-postal-prvak-lige-nba/
- P Botte. “Vlade Divac’s dislike of Luka Doncic’s dad may have kept Kings from drafting him.” New York Post, 25 November 2019: https://nypost.com/2019/11/25/vlade-divacs-dislike-of-luka-doncics-dad-may-have-kept-kings-from-drafting-him/
MoCC 