Kukoc: `It looks like I'm done'

By Gary D'Amato

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

(MCT)

MILWAUKEE - Toni Kukoc would have played another season in the National Basketball Association, but only on his terms.

He didn't want to move his family from Highland Park, Ill., so when neither the Milwaukee Bucks nor the Chicago Bulls expressed interest in signing him, he decided to end his career.

"It looks like I'm done," Kukoc said Monday after playing in the Skip Kendall Charity Pro-Am Fore Kids at Tripoli Country Club. "There are teams that want me, but I don't want to go far from home."

Kukoc, a 6-foot-11 forward, played 13 seasons in the NBA, including six-plus years with the Bulls and the last four with the Bucks.

"My choice was either Chicago or Milwaukee," he said. "Milwaukee is going with a young team and Chicago is in need of a big guy, so that's it."

The versatile Kukoc, a crowd favorite at the Bradley Center, played in 65 games last season and averaged 4.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists. Though he played increasingly fewer minutes in recent years, he was valued for his outside shooting, passing ability and leadership qualities.

Kukoc, who turns 38 on Monday, said he wasn't sad about leaving the game.

"No, not at all," he said. "I think it's time for me to move away from basketball. It was a huge part of my life and gave me pretty much everything I desired but there comes a time when you just can't take it anymore.

"I can still play 10, 15, 20 minutes, maybe, but I don't need it anymore. I always felt like I needed to play basketball. Right now, it's not my most desirable thing anymore. I'd rather play golf."

A native of Croatia, Kukoc was a three-time European player of the year and helped both Yugoslavia (1988) and Croatia (1992) win silver medals in the Olympic Games before signing with the Chicago Bulls in 1993.

He played six full seasons and part of a seventh with the Bulls and teamed with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to win three consecutive NBA titles from 1995-`96 to 1997-`98.

The Bulls traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers midway through the 1999-2000 season and the 76ers traded him to Atlanta the next year.

On Aug. 2, 2002, the Bucks obtained Kukoc, Leon Smith and a 2003 first-round draft pick from the Hawks for forward Glenn Robinson.

Over his 13 NBA seasons, Kukoc averaged 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He won the NBA's sixth-man award after the 1995-`96 season and averaged a career-high 18.8 points in 1998-`99.

Kukoc said he had a 7 handicap in golf and was looking forward to spending time working on his game.

"I think it's the best game ever invented," he said. "I'm actually mad at my dad that he didn't get me involved in golf, but we didn't have golf back then."