Pero Antic
Pero Antic is a professional basketball player born July 29, 1982 in Skopje, and the first Macedonian to play in the NBA. Antic married his wife Ruzhica, who has the same birthday as he does, in 2006. They have two sons named Luka and Pavel.
His contact with basketball was through his father who was a professional basketball player in Yugoslavia for 14 years. Young Pero gained 12 cm in one year at 14, and started training at one of the national youth teams. When Antic was young, he watched future NBA greats Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic, and Toni Kukoc dominate the late 1980s and early 1990s international basketball circuit.
When NBA franchises tried to court Antic in 2011 he passed up the American offers for better financial deals with professional European basketball leagues.
Antic has played with Rabotnicki Skopje, AEK Athens, Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, Academic Sofia, Lokomotiv Kuban,Spartak St. Petersburg and Olympiacos. He won the 2006 Serbia and Montenegro National Cup with Crvena Zvezda Belgrade. He was voted the MVP of the 2007-08 season in the Bulgarian National Basketball League. In the EuroChallenge 2010–11 season, he helped Spartak St. Petersburg reach the Euro Challenge Final Four.
After an impressive performance at the FIBA EuroBasket 2011, Antic signed a two year contract on September 26 with Olympiacos Piraeus. With Olympiacos, he won the Euroleague title two times, in 2012 and 2013, but also helped his team to win the 2011-12 Greek League championship.
Antic was a member and captain of the senior men’s Republic of Macedonia
national team and was instrumental in his team reaching the semi-finals of FIBA EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania. Antic captained the Macedonian national team at the FIBA EuroBasket 2013 after which he announced his retirement from the national team.
Antic signed a two-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks on July 25, 2013. With his 2.11 m, he plays the power forward position, but can also play at the center position. After a series of solid performances as a starter for the Hawks, Antic was selected as a participant in the Rising Stars Challenge game for the NBA All-Star 2014 in New Orleans. But, because of an injured right ankle, Antic was forced to miss the All-Star weekend.
Antic is a supporter of Belgrade club “Crvena Zvezda” and a tatoo of the team supporters (Delije) badge on his right under-arm is one of his several tattoos, including ones of his family, a Macedonian warrior and a stylized flag of Macedonia on his right chest.
After the FIBA EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania, when Macedonian national team finished fourth, he and his teammates received medals of Honor from Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov for the team’s success.