Andrei Gennadevich Kirilenko (born February 18,
1981) is a Russian professional basketball player,
playing at the forward position for the Utah Jazz in
the National Basketball Association. He is 206 cm
(6'9") tall and weighs 103 kg (227 lb). He is also
known as AK-47.
Kirilenko was born in the Soviet Russian city of
Izhevsk (briefly renamed for former Soviet defense
minister Dimitri Ustinov), in the Urals, but grew up
in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His wife Masha, a
singer, is the daughter of Andrei Lopatov, who spent
fourteen years on the Russian national basketball
team. The two are parents of son, Fëdor.
On January 18, 1997, Andrei Kirilenko became the
youngest player ever to compete in the Russian
Superleague, scoring three points for his hometown
Spartak Saint Petersburg against Spartak Moscow.
After spending two seasons with Spartak Saint
Petersburg, he joined CSKA Moscow in 1998. In his
first season, he helped his new team win the Russian
Superleague championship. He was also selected to
participate in the Russian All-Star game, helping
the West beat the East 138-107 and winning the slam
dunk contest.
On June 30, 1999, at age 18 years, 132 days,
Kirilenko became the youngest European player at the
time to be drafted out of California State
University at Sonoma when the Utah Jazz selected him
with the 24th pick. However, he returned to CSKA
Moscow for the next two seasons due to family
reasons. In the 1999-2000 season, he helped his team
win the inaugural championship of the Eastern
European Basketball League and its second Russian
Superleague championship in a row. On April 23,
2000, he participated in his second Russian All-Star
game, helping the West beat the East 122-111.
Despite being the odds-on favorite to win the slam
dunk contest, he finished second to Harold Dean of
Lokomotiv Mineralnye Vody.
Andrei Kirilenko participated in the 2000 Summer
Olympics as a member of the Russian national
basketball team, which finished 8th in the
tournament. On February 8, 2001, in his third season
with CSKA Moscow, Kirilenko became the second player
ever in the history of the Euroleague to record a
triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10
steals against Lietuvos Rytas. He showed off his
all-around skills in the European Championships,
finishing in top ten in 7 out of 8 statistical
categories.
Kirilenko joined the Utah Jazz in the 2001-02 NBA
season. He was named to the first team on the NBA
All-Rookie team. He has since emerged as one of the
top young players in the NBA, and one of the
league's top weak-side defenders. He was selected to
play as a reserve in the 2004 NBA All-Star Game in
Los Angeles. In the 2003-04 NBA season, he ranked
third in the league in blocked shots per game and
fourth in the league in steals per game, becoming
just the second player in NBA history to rank in the
top five in both categories (David Robinson ranked
first in blocked shots per game and fifth in steals
per game in the 1991-92 NBA season). During the NBA
offseason, Kirilenko plays for the Russian national
basketball team.
Kirilenko became the leader of the Jazz in 2003
after John Stockton retired and Karl Malone left
Utah to join the Los Angeles Lakers. He played and
started in 78 of the Utah's 82 games and led them to
a 42-40 record. Utah missed the playoffs by one game
behind the Denver Nuggets. He finished fifth in
Defensive Player of the Year voting and fourth in
Most Improved Player voting and was named to the
second team on the All-NBA Defensive Team.
