Andrej Stojaković, son of NBA legend Peja's Stojaković, is writing his own story at Illinois How the son one of the greatest shooters in NBA history adapted his game to be completely different than his father and helped Illinois reach the Final Four
By Cameron Salerno Apr 3, 2026 at 10:40 am ET • 7 min read 
Getty Images INDIANAPOLIS -- The last name Stojaković carries weight in the basketball world.
When you think of shooting, you think of Stojaković -- more specifically, Peja Stojaković. During Peja's 13-year NBA career, he was one of seven players in NBA history to make at least 1,700 3-pointers while shooting over 40% from beyond the arc. Some of the other names on that list are Steph Curry, Ray Allen and Klay Thompson.
But Illinois forward Andrej Stojaković's game couldn't be more different from his father's. The younger Stojaković is an excellent finisher around the rim, using his size and athleticism to overpower defenders. His 6-foot-7 frame is also much different from his father's, who was taller and stronger during his playing career.
Seven of Illinois' top eight rotational players have knocked down at least 25 3-pointers this season. Andrej is not one of them. Still, he finds ways to capitalize on Illinois' excellent spacing. He averages 1.14 points per possession while shooting 63% at the rim, per Synergy.
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The question is how the son of one of the greatest shooters in NBA history developed a completely different game from his father. Dell Curry and Peja overlapped in the NBA, and while Steph became an even better shooter than his father, Andrej evolved to become exactly the player Illinois needed to reach the final weekend of the college basketball season.
"Whoever followed me in high school, I think they would say my game was a lot more similar to my dad's," Stojaković told CBS Sports. "When I was in high school, I was more of a shooter. As time passed, I was asked to do different things. That's where my versatility came in terms of driving the ball and playing defense."
Stojaković has been part of one of the most successful transfer portal classes in the modern recruiting era at Illinois. The Fighting Illini are in the Final Four for the first time since 2005, where a matchup vs. No. 2 seed UConn awaits Saturday.
CBS Sports spoke to people who knew Stojaković best, those who saw him grow in his basketball journey, including his agent and a close family friend, Drake U'u, who has known the Stojaković family since 2015, when he worked with Peja in the Kings' front office.
"Even from a young age, he's been unbothered," U'u told CBS Sports. "It's such a big last name to live up to. To his credit, he has continued to write his own story and work his butt off."
Growing up in Sacramento
In Sacramento, the last name Stojaković carries even more weight. Peja is a legend in the city after being part of the Kings' heyday in the early 2000s. He made his mark as a 3-point shooter in the NBA during an era where it wasn't as popular as it is today.
Playing high school basketball in that same city could've been the weight of the world on a young teenager. Instead, Andrej embraced it.
"He is so incredibly proud of Andrej and the work that he's put in," U'u said. "Andrej doesn't get to this point without his dad pushing him behind the scenes. What I can really admire and appreciate about Peja is he doesn't want to be in the spotlight. He wants this to be Andrej's show. That's unique."
Peja and Andrej Stojakovic celebrate the trip to the Final Four. pic.twitter.com/MFhfQbIB4Z
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 29, 2026
Andrej isn't the first son of an ex-player to play high school basketball in the same city his father played, and he certainly won't be the last. Both of LeBron James' sons (Bronny and Bryce) attended Sierra Canyon High School in Los Angeles, not far from where the Los Angeles Lakers play. Bryce is now also at the Final Four, a redshirting freshman for Arizona.
Andrej can relate to LeBron's kids and other sons of ex-NBA players. It's not easy trying to live up to his father's name, but Andrej didn't feel the pressure.
"When my dad retired, and we moved back to Europe, no one really expected anything from me," Stojaković said. "I wasn't even playing basketball. And then we got back to Sacramento, it was kinda like a fresh page. The few people who are in my position across the country, players in college, players in the NBA that deal with their fathers being ex-players, (the pressure) is always going to come with it. The good, the bad. I have to be prepared to handle it."
Peja and Andrej Stojaković at Game 7 of the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors. Getty Images Andrej attended Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, located just outside of Sacramento. That school is a very popular destination for well-known parents in the area to send their sons.
"On campus, he fit in great," Andrej's high school coach, Tim Kelly, told CBS Sports. "He was just another student on campus. I don't think he was perceived as a superstar by his peers during the school day. Definitely on the basketball court he was."
Andrej played three years of varsity basketball at Jesuit, which lined up in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. He only played one year of AAU basketball, the summer before his senior year.
Instead of Andrej grinding through the AAU circuit at random gyms across the country, summers in the Stojaković household were spent training together in Greece, where he was born in August 2004, during his father's NBA peak.
"AAU is whoever gets the rebound gets to shoot the ball," Stojaković said. "It's not real basketball. You don't really learn the fundamentals of it. My parents decided to hold me out for the majority of high school because of that. They thought it was a toxic way to learn the game, and playing the right way was the most important thing to me. Only playing one year was me trying to gain the exposure to make it to the next level."
Despite Andrej blowing up to become one of the most recognizable players in college basketball, his father has mostly stayed out of the spotlight.
Peja is very laid back, which isn't typical for the father of a star player -- especially one who has played at the highest level and had success. But Andrej, at times, can be the opposite of his father. His personality shines through during interactions with his teammates, including joking about not wanting to wear the team's cowboy hat due to his having the "best hair" on the team.
"My dad is not one of those people that wants to be in the spotlight and wants to be in front of the camera," Andrej said. "He just wants to stay out of it. He only wants to do the behind-the-scenes conversions, and I appreciate that from him. It shows he doesn't care about everything else, just how much I enjoy playing."
How Andrej turned into Illinois' x-factor
In mid-February, Andrej suffered an ankle sprain and missed two games. When he returned to the lineup against USC, he had a new role assigned to him coming off the bench. After starting almost every game last season at Cal amid a breakout season, this was different.
For most, a demotion to the bench would be a big deal -- especially in this era of college basketball. But for Andrej, scaling up or down his role was nothing new to him. Dating back to his time as a high school basketball player, Andrej knew when he needed to be "the guy" and when he needed to scale down his role.
"He wants to win," Kelly said. "He is a competitor. Whatever role you give him, he's going to be elite in that role."
The same can also be said about his time at Stanford as a freshman. Despite being a late-bloomer, Andrej finished as a top 20 recruit in the final 247Sports rankings. He was a McDonald's All-American, but he still couldn't find consistent starter minutes in his first season at the college level.
Andrej started just 10 games as a freshman at Stanford and averaged just over 22 minutes per game. After Stanford fired coach Jerod Haase following Andrej's freshman season, he entered the transfer portal and went to cross-town rival Cal. It was at Cal where he established himself as one of the top scorers in the ACC and went back to being "the guy."
Since coming off the bench, Andrej has been elite in his role. He scored 60 points off the bench in Illinois' four NCAA Tournament wins, including 17 points in the Elite Eight on 7-for-9 shooting against Iowa. He is averaging more points (14.1) coming off the bench in the last 11 games than he did as a starter.
StatFirst 22 gamesLast 11 gamesMinutes27.622.6Points13.514.2Rebounds4.64.5Assists1.10.7Field goal %51.50%57.00%Andrej, this season, has made just 20 3-pointers total. He might not be the same player as his father, but his role is exactly what Illinois needs to win the program's first national title.
"The shooting is going to eventually come around," U'u said. "He is a much better shooter than what his numbers have been this year. At the end of the day, he is really a natural scorer. I love the fact that he's just a different player and is able to kinda create his own name for himself."
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