By ADAM ZAGORIA
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino coached in Greece for two seasons, and is intimately familiar with international basketball talent.
He continued to add international players to his roster with the addition of 18-year-old 7-footer Lazar Stojković of Crvena Zvezda, who leads the Serbian KLS in block percentage and ranked third at the 2025 FIBA U18 Eurobasket, via Draft Express.
“I chose St. John’s because it felt like the right fit in terms of coaching, development, and opportunity,” Stojkovic told ZAGSBLOG.. “Coach Pitino has a strong identity and a proven way of developing players and building winning teams, and I wanted to be in an environment that demands a high level every day. Playing in New York and being part of a program with that kind of tradition and energy was also a big factor for me.
“As for my skillset, I bring rim protection, rebounding, and physicality on the defensive end. I take pride in anchoring the paint, altering shots, and protecting the rim. Offensively, I can stretch the floor and shoot, which helps create spacing for the team, and I’m comfortable making plays in pick-and-pop situations as well as finishing around the rim. I run the floor well, set solid screens, and focus on doing the little things that lead to winning—effort, toughness, and consistency every possession.”
Stojkovic, is an 18-year old native of Belgrade, Serbia, will arrive in Queens with four years of eligibility remaining. The big man most recently played for BKK Radnicki in the Serbia KLS League, the country’s top flight of basketball, and competed for the national team during the FIBA U18 EuroBasket in the summer of 2025.
“What we search for with all recruits is people with an incredible work-ethic, passion and desire to reach their potential and no one serves that better than Lazar,” said Pitino. “He has all the tools, shooting, touch around the basket and 3-point shooting to be an outstanding basketball player and we are super excited to have him.”
This past season for BKK Radnicki, Stojkovic made 17 appearances, averaging 5.4 points on 36.4% shooting from 3-point range. He also pulled down 2.6 rebounds and blocked 1.6 shots per game. Additionally in 2025-26, he appeared in four contests for Crvena Zvezda, logging 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 3.0 steals per game. The elite rim protector averaged 1.2 swats per contest, which ranked third-best in the Serbia KLS.
Last summer, the teenage standout played for the U18 Serbian National Team in the FIBA U18 EuroBasket in Belgrade. Stojkovic guided his home country to a fifth-place finish at the tournament, averaging 4.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game across seven games, the latter of which ranked fifth best at EuroBasket.
Stojkovic spent an additional three seasons with BKK Radnicki from 2022-25, competing with both the club’s junior and senior teams. In 2024-25, the post presence played 21 contests with the club’s U19 team, averaging 11.1 points and 8.5 rebounds game. He was tabbed to the 2025 EuroBasket All-Serbian Junior League Third Team. The season prior, he was a EuroBasket All-Serbian Junior League Second Team selection after averaging 14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per contest during the 2023-24 campaign. Over those two seasons, he made 22 appearances with the senior team, registering 4.0 points and 2.6 boards per outing.
Stojkovic will join a global Red Storm roster in The World’s Borough that currently has five players from Europe- Ruben Prey(Portugal), Casper Pohto (Sweden), Lefteris Liotopoulos (Greece), Fotis Konstantinidis (Greece) and now Stojkovic (Serbia).
St. John’s previously added 6-foot-8 Đorđije Jovanović of Montenegro and 6-5 British point guard Quinn Ellis
“I think college basketball in the last two years is at the highest level of performance that I’ve witnessed in my 50 years,” Pitino said during the NCAA Tournament. “That’s because [of] the foreign influence, they no longer want to go to the EuroLeague or the EuroCup. They want to go to the States because they make more money. We can even rival the EuroLeague as far as pay is concerned.”
On Monday, they landed 6-8 Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman, a native of Washington, D.C.
St. John’s lost Dylan Darling, Joson Sanon and Kelvin Odih to the portal and will return guard Lefty Liotopoulos, wing Ian Jackson and big man Ruben Prey.
They remain in the mix for several other portal players, including 7-1 Arizona State transfer center Massamba Diop, who is expected to visit this weekend.
JACKSON SET TO RETURN
Ian Jackson officially announced Tuesday he will return for the 2026-27 season.
Jackson averaged 9.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists for a team that reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
Rick Pitino seems determined to make sure he has a big season next year.
“I’m really impressed with Ian’s maturity speaking to him. His loyalty and his maturity have come a long way,” he told the NY Post. “It’s a personal thing to me to make sure he has a great year.”
Capt. Jack is returning to St. John’s 🫡
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 21, 2026
Ian Jackson announced he will remain in NY this upcoming season 💪 pic.twitter.com/uP76s8fyFP
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