Zaza Pachulia

Zaza Pachulia (ზაზა ფაჩულია; born Zaur Pachulia; 10 February 1984) is a Georgian professional basketball executive and former player who is a basketball operations consultant for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Beginning his professional career in Turkey as a teenager, Pachulia was drafted in the second round of the 2003 draft by the Orlando Magic.

Once he distinguished himself with Ülkerspor, Pachulia was drafted in the second round by the Orlando Magic during the 2003 NBA draft.

After being selected in the 2004 expansion draft by the Charlotte Bobcats, Pachulia was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played the 2004–05 season.

While with the Bucks, he averaged 6.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game off the bench.

Pachulia signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2005 off-season and became the Hawks' starting center, when he averaged 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game during the 2005–06 season.

His previous best was 21 double-doubles, set with Atlanta in 2005–06.

He began as the starting center during the 2006–07 season but later came off the bench.

An on-court altercation between the relatively obscure Pachulia and Celtics star Kevin Garnett led one writer to dub Pachulia "Balboa" after the lead character from the Rocky series of movies.

Pachulia re-signed with the Hawks on July 13, 2009, agreeing to a multi-year contract.

During the 2011 NBA lockout, Pachulia signed with Galatasaray of the Turkish Basketball League.

Pachulia returned to the Hawks in December 2011, playing with them until 2013.

On July 17, 2013, Pachulia signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.

On December 26, he recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds against the Chicago Bulls, surpassing his 2014–15 season total.

On March 20, 2015, he recorded 22 points and 21 rebounds in a 129–127 overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

His 21 rebounds included 18 offensive rebounds, which marked an NBA season high and a Bucks franchise record.

On July 9, 2015, Pachulia was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a future second-round pick.

He made his debut for the Mavericks in the team's season opener against the Phoenix Suns on October 28, recording a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 111–95 win.

On January 12, 2016, he recorded his 20th double-double of the season, and the 100th in his career, with 14 points and 12 rebounds in a 110–107 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Later that month, he came within 14,227 votes of knocking out San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard for a starting spot on the West All-Star team for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game.

On February 3, 2016, he recorded 10 points and 15 rebounds against the Miami Heat for his career-best 22nd double-double of the season.

On July 12, 2016, Pachulia signed with the Golden State Warriors.

On December 22, 2016, he had a season-best game with 15 points and 14 rebounds in a 117–101 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Pachulia helped the Warriors finish the 2016–17 regular season with 67 wins.

During Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs, he had an infamous closeout foot slide on Kawhi Leonard, which ruled out Leonard for the rest of the series and effectively ended San Antonio's season.

While Pachulia denied that he intended to injure Leonard, he was instantly dubbed a villain by the public and media.

He played for seven teams in his 16-year NBA career, winning two championships with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

He also played for the Georgia national team, captaining them in multiple tournaments.

Pachulia also had a reputation of being a "dirty" player, notably injuring Kawhi Leonard during the 2017 playoffs.

Pachulia started playing basketball at an early age in Georgia.

He was approximately 6 ft at the age of 13.

He was scouted and recruited by the Turkish professional team Ülkerspor when he was a teenager.

He became a member of the Georgian junior national basketball team at a young age, leading them at various tournaments.

The Warriors went on to win the NBA championship after defeating the Cavaliers 4–1 in the 2017 NBA Finals.

Pachulia made history for Georgia by becoming the first player from the country to win an NBA Championship.

The Warriors finished the playoffs with a 16–1 record, the best postseason winning percentage in NBA history.

On July 25, 2017, Pachulia re-signed with the Warriors.

On December 30, 2017, he scored a season-best 17 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists in a 141–128 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

In a game against the Thunder on February 25, 2018, Pachulia again caused controversy as he fell onto Russell Westbrook's knee after a play.

Westbrook stated in an interview after the game that he believed Pachulia's fall was intentional with the intent of injuring his knee.