3x3 Basketball star Strahinja Stojacic unfazed by world number one status: “Who the first player is in the world doesn't matter”
He’s the undisputed king of the half-court singing on top of the stats sheets but Serbia’s Stojacic insists he’s much more interested in being in the world’s best team than the world’s top player: “When your team is the first team in the world, this is the most important thing,” he told Olympics.com.
Basketball 3x3
The look Strahinja Stojacic gave his Austrian opponents as they stepped on the half-court at the 3x3 Basketball World Cup couldn’t have lasted more than a couple of seconds, and yet, in the moment, it seemed like a lifetime had passed.
Before their arrival, the 30-year-old Serbian had been going through the usual motions. Swinging his arms around before bouncing on his toes all in a bid to encourage blood flow up the length of his lean limbs; it was his typical warm-up routine.
But the second his opposite number emerged out of the tunnel he dropped everything to fix his stare firmly on his rivals.
Lowering his brow as if to underline the eye contact, he then began to clap. To some, the act seemed nothing more than a welcome gesture. But for those that follow 3x3 closely, it was a sign of something far more ominous - Stojacic was ready to dominate.
Sitting for an interview with Olympics.com during last month’s 3x3 World Cup in Vienna, it’s clear that there is a tangible difference between Stojacic on the half-court and the man off it.
“I try every time to put emotions to a side in a game,” Stojacic said, explaining his in-game persona.
“Sometimes it’s good to have emotions, but sometimes it’s very bad. And, in my opinion, you need to stay focused on the game and put the emotions back.”
When Stojacic does ‘stay focused’ the results are nothing short of devastating for the opposition.
In the last two seasons, the driven Serbian has become the prevailing force on the 3x3 biggest stages. His electric play-making abilities and offensive firepower have seen him own to the top spot in the individual rankings for the best part of two seasons, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.
Already in 2023, Stojacic is a back-to-back World Tour Masters MVP while playing for his side Ub and World Cup All-Tournament MVP for Serbia.
Though it might be early doors, his current form is setting him up for an individual season unlike any 3x3 has ever seen and, with qualification for Paris 2024 underway, the star is certainly looking poised for what's ahead.
But unlike the ice-cold 'Dr Strange' – the nickname Stojacic has acquired for his other-worldly skillset – who might thrive from being heralded as the top player in the world, away from the court the Serb revealed he doesn’t put much emphasis on the world No 1 crown.
“When your team is the first team in the world, this is the most important thing,” Stojacic said.
“Who is the best player in that moment, it's like a small detail, you know? And when we win, we all have the same numbers and ranking points. Just one player from the team needs to be a little bit better and, at the moment. I am [playing better].
“For me, it's much more important to have the team first in the world. Who the first player is in the world doesn't matter.”
Serbian team-mates Mihailo Vasic (L) and Strahinja Stojacic (R) celebrate during the 3x3 FIBA World Cup in Vienna, Austria
From the streets of Serbia to World No 1
A Serbian man at the top of his game with a basketball in hand is a sight the world recently has become accustomed to.
Across the Atlantic, away from Stojacic’s Novi Sad, Nikola Jokic completed his ascent to the top of the NBA winning a championship title with the Denver Nuggets for the first time in the franchise’s history.
How the two individuals from a country of just 6.8 million have come to dominate their variation of hoops globally is a question many have been left asking. In both instances, their love for the game started early, and in the family.
“My father was a professional basketball player [and] my older brother was playing basketball,” explained Stojacic.
“I started watching my father, then I started watching my brother [Stefan Stojacic] and I wanted to go to practice with him. And he hated that, I remember,” the Serbian said laughing.
“Because I was young and would run behind him, but after that, I started to practice for myself in a club. I started to love basketball very young.”
Determined to keep pace with his older brother, Stojacic said he would often spend hours practising his craft on the multitude of outdoor courts near his home. With basketball embedded into the very fabric of the country, one didn’t have to go far to find someone to challenge.
“Basketball, in Serbia, it’s the first sport in the country. You have so many basketball courts outside and it’s easy to go and play.
“When we were kids, you could go out to play and many old people, not old people, but older than us were outside and they would have this free basket to play. They say, ‘Okay, you can come to play, and if you win, you will play again.’ And it’s normal. If you lose, you go home.”
Stojacic didn’t know then that the time he spent out on the streets playing half-court hoops would one day come to serve him when he eventually moved from 5-on-5 basketball to play 3x3 full-time in 2018. That transition, he explains, came once more from following in his brother’s footsteps.
“Immediately, when I saw again my brother started to play 3x3, I knew too, I would one day change sport from 5-on-5 to 3x3,” Stojacic said with a smile, sensing the way his competitiveness to keep in touch with his older sibling would across. “I just tried it and I very quickly fell in love with the sport, and I decided to stop playing 5-on-5 and just play 3x3.”
Paris 2024 Olympic gold: "long way goal"
After slowly making his name known on the World Tour circuit with impressive individual performance Stojacic’s real breakthrough came after the dissolution of Serbian World Tour team Novi Sad.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist and five-time world champion Dejan Majstorovic and Marko Savic decided after the split to join rising star Stojacic at team Ub. And their injection, he maintains, is why the team is so successful now.
“The most important moment was when we started to play together with Majstorovic and Savic,” Stojacic said on why his team has become the best in the world.
“I think this is the moment when we grow our game a lot. And I just think we believe in ourselves. You know, when one player like Dejan who is top in the world for the last seven, eight, 10 years, came into the team he gave us some positive energy. He always talks like, ‘We can do that’, and we just started to believe in ourselves.”
Powered by self-confidence, it seems that any team Stojacic is part of, Serbia or Ub, is destined to do succeed. It’s why, when it comes to his ambitions in his sport, he makes no bones about his goals.
“Always the target is to win the championship,” the Serbian said resolutely. “It doesn't matter if it’s a Masters, Challenge, World Cup or EuroCup. That's why we come to tournaments, that's our goal.”
Also on that list, the basketball player also admits, is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for which the qualifying process has already begun.
Though he coined it a “long way goal” given how much competition lies between now, the wait is doing little to change his target of being there.
“This season is maybe the most important season because you need to qualify for the Olympic Games and you have to prepare for that,” Stojacic explained. “And we will go for the gold medal, 100 per cent”.
“Can we do this?” the Serbian asked tentatively. “Maybe we’ll lose some games but our goal is the gold medal, always.”