The Turkish Nationality holder Zaza Pachulia was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, and Soviet Union on 10th February, 1984. His birth name was Zaur Pachulia, due to some reasons it was legally changed to Zaza Pachulia. Zaza plays on international level on behalf of Georgia. He plays basketball at centre position. He has remained captain of Georgia’s national basketball team for many tournaments. He started his NBA (National Basketball Association) career in the year 2003. Zaza has an outstanding Athletic body. His height was six feet 8 inches at the age of 13 only. For the first time he played for the Turkish team.
Early Career in Basketball
Zaza was very successful basketball athlete from his childhood; He became the member of Georgian Junior National Basketball Team, at very young age. He played in his teenage for Turkish Professional basketball team Ulkerspor. In very start he played at centre for his teams. He has captained most of his tournaments for the Turkish team. He has beaten European rivals for Turkish team in many tournaments. The famous rivals included Belarus and Bulgaria. While playing with Turkish national teams, Zaza showed outstanding performance as centre while leading his team. This made him to be a focal point for NBA recruiters.
Professional Career with NBA and Achievements
Zaza was selected in NBA Draft of 2003 in its second rounds. His MBA career was started with Orlando Magic. In 2004 expansion draft he was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats. He played his first season of 2004-05 with Milwaukee Bucks He was traded with Bucks by the Bobcats. His start with Bucks was also an outstanding; he had an average of 6.2 point per game and 5.1 rebounds per game. He played his 2005-06 seasons as the Atlanta Hawks starter centre. He had signed his contract with hawks in 2005. Here, he secured average of 11.7 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game.
A rather interesting thing happened to Zaza in 2006-07 seasons. There was a small dispute between Kevin Garnett of the Celtics and Pachulia. The matter went on court. As a result of altercation, Zaza was given title of Balboa, the main character of a movie from Rocky series. In 2011 he also played with Turkish Basketball League but again came back to play for Atlanta Hawks of NBA. During his career, Zaza has played for the Ulkerspor, Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Galatasaray and Dallas Mavericks. In his career he played total of 815 games, started 317 games; he has average rebounds of 5.6 per game and average points per game of 7.0. At present Zaza is playing for Dallas Mavericks. In January he faced a severe leg injury. Due to this he could not be in action for a certain period of time. The year 2015-16 is proving to be the best of his career, otherwise.
Zaza Pachulia Personal Life
Zaza Pachulia is a happily married athlete; His wife’s name is Tina Pachulia. The couple was married in the year 2008. They have three children together, two daughters and one son. Their sons name is Davit and daughters’ names are Saba and Maryam.
| Net Worth 2021: | 3 million |
