Son of retired Kings great is essential piece as Illinois seeks NCAA championship
Andrej Stojakovic spent a lot of his teenage summers in Sacramento working out against older guys in open-gym sessions.
And not just guys, but men. Full-grown bruisers who earned a living from banging inside the paint in professional leagues across the globe. The intent was to toughen Stojakovic up, to get him used to the rigors of big-time college basketball, as he was met with little defensive resistance while roaring through his prep career at Jesuit High School.
That time has come. The son of former Sacramento Kings shooting star Peja Stojakovic continues to make a name for himself, sparkling as a versatile 6-foot-7 shooting guard for the University of Illinois during the club’s march to the Final Four in Indianapolis. Illinois takes on Connecticut this Saturday afternoon in an NCAA Tournament semifinal.
Yes, he’s Peja’s kid, but the 21-year-old Stojakovic is his own player, a slithery and smooth junior creator who can score inside with a variety of moves and with a midrange game that includes a fade-away jumper. The inside play against March Madness teams is no easy path to the bucket — not with the forearms on the 6-foot-10 big bodies crashing the offensive boards and protecting their turf,— but Stojakovic has held his own.
Against VCU in the early rounds of the tournament, Stojakovic scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in an upset win over No. 2-seeded Houston. In a regional “Elite Eight” final, Stojakovic had 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and a late 3-point play to help spur a 71-59 victory over Iowa, sending Illinois to a Final Four for the first time in 21 years.
Stojakovic is averaging 15.0 points in four NCAA Tournament games, leading his coach Brad Underwood to say he has been “fabulous” and “a perfect fit.”
And to be clear, the son is not like his father in this sport. Peja set Kings 3-point records and is so revered in Sacramento that the three-time NBA All-Star had his jersey No. 16 retired in the Golden 1 Center rafters, home of the Kings. Peja in 518 regular-season games with the Kings averaged 18.3 points, with a high of 24.2 in 2003-04.
Peja retired after 13 seasons in 2011 as the fourth-leading 3-point shooter in NBA history. He also held front office roles with the Kings in the 2010s.
Peja saw his son in every Jesuit game, and he has been there for most the fun this season. Stojakovic has averaged 13.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in 31 games for Illinois, 21 of those as a starter.
Father and son had a special moment after the defeat of Iowa in the Elite Eight, embracing after the finish. Stojakovic said he enjoyed having his father attend his Jesuit games in Sacramento and now in his senior season.
“Having my dad over there who has been through it means a lot to me,” he said earlier this season. “Looking at him during timeouts, whether he is yelling at me or encouraging me, after the game, he’s always going to have points for my teammates and myself. It means a lot to me for him to be here.”
Andrej’s path at Jesuit and beyond
Stojakovic was born in Sacramento but spent a lot of his youth in Serbia, where his father is from, and in Greece, where his mother Aleka Kamila, is a native. Stojakovic is fluent in multiple languages, and he teased Jesuit classmates by telling them he could help them with their Greek, a language not offered as a subject at Jesuit.
He blended in on the Carmichael campus as a gregarious sort, affable and quick-witted, much like his father. He was a fan favorite as an entertaining guard who averaged 25.3 points and 9.3 rebounds at Jesuit, where he was a good student and a hot national basketball prospect.
Stojakovic hasn’t forgotten his roots, his old school and the teachers and coaches at Jesuit. When in town, he will visit the Jesuit campus, including doing so on the eve of the academic year at Illinois, putting up shots in the gym and working up a sweat in the weight room.
“It’s been really fun to watch Andrej this year, his team’s success and having a big part of it,” Jesuit basketball coach Tim Kelly said. “He’s always been super skilled. He’s gotten really strong, more physical, and that’s helped him translate to the next level. Those are really physical games in the NCAA Tournament, and he’s able to handle himself.”
Stojakovic never shied away from work, on honing his basketball craft. Mix that in with his size, skill set and feel and love for the game, and you have quite the player. Stojakovic’s father will cheer him on and also take mental notes on things he could have done better — a quicker screen, a different move.
“My dad taught me everything about this sport,” Stojakovic told The Sacramento Bee his senior season. “I’m super thankful. The way I was raised, if you didn’t give it your all, then you didn’t give enough. We talk about basketball all the time. There’s always more I can improve on. There’s always a rebound to get, a better pass to make.”
Peja let son forge own identity
Any notion that Peja Stojakovic is excessively hard on his son as something of a hovering parent isn’t fair or accurate, Kelly and others at Jesuit say. Dad never pressured son to play, but he would tell him that if he was going to compete, he had to do so with purpose.
“If you didn’t know who Peja was, you wouldn’t even know he was at our games — he just blended in,” Jesuit athletic director Hank Weinberger said. “That’s a bad character look for anyone to say Peja was an over-the-top dad. Peja and his wife were amazing, super supportive, and they let Andrej have his own path. We’re so proud of Andrej and his journey. We’re all watching.”
Andrej’s kid brother, Maximos, will be a Jesuit freshman this fall. The Stojakovic family was on site in Houston to watch Illinois stamp its ticket to the final weekend of the season. The Stojakovic family is a close-knit one and they call Sacramento home.
Andrej seems to have found his collegiate home, too. He signed with Stanford after his senior year at Jesuit, averaging 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 32 games for the Cardinal, including 10 starts. He transferred to Cal, where he started 28 games, and had moments of stardom, averaging just under 18 points and 4.7 rebounds. Then he landed at Illinois.
“I think me coming here and getting to this point, just like every other newcomer that came to this team this year, all we can do is help this team go as far as we can,” Stojakovic said during the NCAA Tournament. “And we all want to win.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 11:55 AM.