Rumors

Zaza Pachulia: I was 19—still a teenager. The only person I knew was my agent, and he was based in New York. I was drafted by the Orlando Magic—Shaq’s former team. I remember when I signed the two-year contract, he congratulated me and just left. I said, ‘Marc, where are you going?’ He said, ‘I’ve got other clients to take care of.’ I said, ‘You got it.’ It was August too, by the way. NBA is pretty dead in August—nothing happens. Summer League is done. Training camp is still a month and a half away. And I was already in Orlando, so I had to figure out so many things on my own and made a lot of mistakes. But you know—it’s part of life. I think when you learn from your mistakes—or others’ mistakes—it’s all a learning process.

YouTube

Zaza Pachulia: Who helped me? From the players—no one really did. Not as much, because players only show up for training camp. But the team personnel helped with basic things—like renting a house, getting a car, or buying one, setting up bank accounts. Back in those days, all of that was hard. Now, you can literally do everything from your phone. It was a different era. But you learn. And that makes you stronger. It makes you appreciative.

YouTube

Green still views himself as a natural power forward. The glory days of this Warriors run planted him next to durable centers like Andrew Bogut, Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee for the majority of his minutes. “I’m really good next to a center,” Green said. “I’m decent at center, but I think I’m really good next to a center.”

New York Times

In some ways, you changed the rules of the NBA with the 2017 All-Star selection when you received massive votes and the 'Zaza rules' prevented you from participating. Zaza Pachulia: It was really fun, a great experience. I never asked for a single vote for that game, not in any way. It was all spontaneous. I really enjoyed all of that. There was a moment I felt a bit embarrassed, as my vote numbers grew and people voted like crazy. I thought you can't stop what people want to do. 12,000 votes made me feel proud. I know most of them came from Georgia, my country, because I could feel a huge level of activity. There were even songs written for the occasion. You can't buy that moment and I am very grateful to everyone who took the time to vote for me.

Marca.com

Zaza Pachulia: It wasn't about playing it. I think the moment of those votes was more satisfying than actually playing in the All-Star Game. I say this honestly. As you said, they changed the rules because of me, and I bet you don't even remember half of the players who did that to play. I don't want to say it isn't an honor to play, because it is, a dream for anyone. But no other player experienced what I did. Many of them were surprised and even one, like Rudy Gobert, suggested getting a Georgian passport to obtain similar support...Those two months were sensational for me.

Marca.com

Anthony Slater: Steve Kerr will not coach the Warriors tonight in Utah. He is in Serbia for Dejan Milojevic’s services. Kenny Atkinson will be the acting head coach. Also in Serbia for the service: Mike Dunleavy, Chris DeMarco, Ron Adams, Zaza Pachulia, Rick Celebrini.

Twitter

His wife, Natasha, and two children, Nikola and Masa, sat five rows behind general manager Mike Dunleavy and front office consultant Zaza Pachulia. As tears streamed down their faces, they were presented the rest of the bouquet of white roses. The day before, Klay Thompson had Milojevic's son, Nikola, rebound for him following practice. "Just to be able to tell him how much I loved his dad, all the great memories we built and made together, I just told him how grateful I am for his family and how proud of them [Milojevic] was," Thompson told ESPN. "There's still a really big hole in our team. I just feel so bad for his children and his wife. We miss him every day."

ESPN

Anthony Slater: Dejan Milojević's wife and two children are seated in Mike Dunleavy's normal seats a few rows behind the Warriors' bench, seated next to Zaza Pachulia. Pregame tribute about to start for Milojević in Chase Center.

Twitter

FIBA Eurobasket: 🇪🇸🤝🇩🇪🤝🇬🇪 Just some #EuroBasket legends watching hoops. #FIBAWC x #WinForAll

Twitter

Kerr likened the additions of Saric and Joseph to Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica for the 2022 championship season, and even to Zaza Pachulia and David West in previous years. “We needed guys like Saric and Cory Joseph who have been through the NBA rigors and understand what it means to be a leader from the middle of the roster and how important that is,” Kerr said, later adding, “Mike really recognized that was an area we needed help, so he went out without many resources and fortified our roster and put us in position moving forward.”

San Jose Mercury-News

Dalton Johnson: The players that Bob Myers specifically has mentioned and thanked: Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevon Looney and Kevin Durant Also: Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, Shaun Livingston, David West, Zaza Pachulia, Andrew Bogut and Leandro Barbosa

Twitter

Kylen Mills: Zaza Pachulia said on @957thegame he’s not disappointed in Draymond Green: “Is everybody perfect? No, that’s not the case. I wish we weren’t talking about a suspension, I wish we were not dealing with this. But at the same time, I know his every move is to help the team.” #dubnation

Twitter

BasketNews: 🇬🇪 Georgia's legend Zaza Pachulia couldn't miss the game against Turkey 🇹🇷✊ #EuroBasket

Twitter

Smart dumbbells startup Kabata has raised $2 million from investors that include English soccer star Daniel Sturridge, former NBA player Zaza Pachulia, Golden State Warriors’ EVP of basketball operations Kirk Lacob and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. The AI-powered weights come with an app to track workout metrics such as rep count, time under tension, velocity and calories burned.

SportTechie