Warriors’ Zaza Pachulia plays to honor his native Georgia

Pachulia rebuffed far more lucrative offers in July to sign a one-year, $2.9 million deal with Golden State, in part for the chance to become the first Georgian-born player to win an NBA title. Basketball rivals soccer and rugby for the top spot on Georgia's sports hierarchy. Last January, thanks to Georgians stuffing the online ballot box, Pachulia came within 15,000 votes of becoming an All-Star starter. The longtime role player received more votes than Draymond Green, Blake Griffin and DeMarcus Cousins. To prevent a similar situation from happening again, the NBA expanded All-Star voting to players and media this season. The son of a former Soviet women's basketball team player, Pachulia picked up the sport at age 8. The fifth overall pick in the 2002 draft by Denver, he averaged 2.9 points per game over four NBA seasons before heading overseas. Though a below-average athlete by NBA standards, he is an intelligent player who excels at setting screens, hustling for loose balls and passing to the perimeter. In the summer of 2015, the Athletic Federation of Georgia offered him the opportunity to run his own basketball academy in Tbilisi.