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Center | |
Personal information | |
Date of birth | May 8, 1976 |
Nationality | Georgian |
Listed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
Listed weight | 236 lb (107 kg) |
Career information | |
NBA Draft | 1998 / Round: 1 / Pick: 27th overall |
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics | |
Pro career | 1995–2004 |
Career history | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
No notable achievements | |
Stats at NBA.com |
Vladimir Stepania (born 8 May 1976 in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union) is a retired Georgian professional basketball player, in the center position.
After starting in his country, Stepania played several years in Slovenia, namely with Olimpija Ljubljana, partnering another center, Radoslav Nesterović, in his first year.
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics late in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft, Stepania became the first Georgian player to play in the competition. For six seasons, in which he was a backup, he represented the Sonics, the New Jersey Nets, the Miami Heat and the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging four points (a total of 1,118) and rebounds in 270 regular season matches.
His best season was in 2002–03 with the Heat, in which he averaged 5.6 points and seven rebounds per game, battling for position in a club which had lost Alonzo Mourning for the year with a kidney ailment; Stepania's career-high in points was 19, coming on 16 November 2001 against the Charlotte Hornets. On 19 November 2002, against the Milwaukee Bucks, he recorded a career-best 15 rebounds (on both occasions he represented the Heat).
In 2004, after a slow year with the Blazers, Stepania retired from professional basketball, at only 28.
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