St. John’s men’s basketball team announced on April 24 the signing of Lazar Stojkovic, a 7-foot-1 center from Serbia, for the 2026-27 season.
The addition of Stojkovic brings new talent and international experience to a Red Storm program that has recently seen significant success. The team has won back-to-back Big East Regular Season and Tournament Championships and reached the Sweet 16 this past year for the first time since 1999.
Head Coach Rick Pitino said, “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. 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.”
Stojkovic arrives in Queens with four years of eligibility remaining after playing for BKK Radnicki in Serbia’s top league last season. He averaged 5.4 points per game on 36.4% shooting from three-point range over 17 appearances, along with averaging 2.6 rebounds and blocking 1.6 shots per game. In addition, he played four games for Crvena Zvezda during which he posted averages of 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, and three steals per contest.
Last summer at FIBA U18 EuroBasket in Belgrade representing Serbia’s national team, Stojkovic helped secure a fifth-place finish while averaging nearly five points along with notable contributions in rebounding and shot-blocking over seven games.
Over his previous seasons with BKK Radnicki’s junior teams from 2022-25, he earned All-League honors twice—making both Second Team (2023-24) and Third Team (2024-25)—and maintained strong averages in scoring, rebounding, and blocks.
Stojkovic will join other European players on the Red Storm roster including Ruben Prey (Portugal), Casper Pohto (Sweden), Lefteris Liotopoulos (Greece), Fotis Konstantinidis (Greece), according to information provided by St. John’s Athletics.
The Red Storm play home games in Queens as part of the Big East Conference according to their official website. The program has claimed six Big East Tournament championships as well as two National Invitation Tournament titles according to their official website.
Looking ahead, fans can place deposits for season tickets or support fundraising campaigns through April 29 as outlined by the university.
