What is Sasha Vujacic's Net Worth?
Sasha Vujacic is a retired Slovenian professional basketball player who has a net worth of $8 million. Sasha Vujacic earned his net worth through a career in basketball in the NBA and the Turkish Basketball League.
Early Life
Aleksander "Sasha" Vujacic was born on March 8, 1984, in Maribor, at the time part of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. His father, Vaso, was a Serbian basketball coach and his mother, Ksenija, a Slovenian volleyball player. Ksenija was playing with the Yugoslav women's club when she got pregnant with Sasha at the age of 19 and had to quit. His parents divorced when he was just two years old, and he lived with his mother and stepfather, Goran Bjekovic. Sasha has two siblings, a sister named Nina, and a brother named Aljosa. He always loved basketball but also grew up interested in volleyball, tennis, and soccer.
Having gotten acquainted with the game of basketball at such a young age, Vujacic was able to play for Branik and Polzela from 1998 to 2000. The next year, he played for the Snaidero Udine junior team before joining the senior team in 2001. He also played for the Slovenian junior national team and won a silver medal at the 2002 European Junior Championship.
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Basketball Career
Sasha Vujacic turned pro at 16 years old making his professional debut with Snaidero Udine of Italy. And after three years with the team, he got drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 27th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. He set the record for best three-point field goal percentage for a single season in Lakers history at a .437 clip. He earned the nickname "Machine" due to his sharpshooting, and in the 2009 and 2010 seasons helped the Lakers win the NBA championship.
Vujacic was traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2010 and only played with the team for a year before signing a two-year contract with the Anadolu Efes. He made the Turkish Basketball League All-Star team in 2012 and 2013 and was named the TBL All-Star MVP in 2012. He returned to the NBA in 2014 on a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, but the team did not re-sign him once it expired. He went on to play for Reyer Venezia Mestre, Laboral Kutxa, and Istanbul BB before signing a one-year deal with the New York Knicks where he had some success. He re-signed with the Knicks the next season. Vujacic then won the Italian Basketball Cup in 2018 with Auxilium Torino.
Contracts & Career Earnings
In 2008, Sasha Vujacic signed a three-year contract worth $15 million. His one-year deal with the New York Knicks in 2015 earned him $1.36 million, and the one-year contract in 2016 was worth $1.41 million.
Over his six-year NBA career alone, Vujacic earned nearly $16 million in salary.
Personal Life
Sasha Vujacic was once engaged to professional tennis player Maria Sharapova, but the couple separated in 2012. It was later revealed in 2020 that Vujacic and TV personality Kristine Leahy were in a relationship.
