Alexander Anatolevich Volkov (Ukrainian: Олекса́ндр Анато́лійович Во́лков, Russian: Александр Анатольевич Волков; born 29 March 1964), commonly known as Sasha Volkov, is a retired Soviet and Ukrainian professional basketball player. He was born in Omsk, RSFSR, Soviet Union. At 6'10" (2.08 m) tall, he played at the power forward and center positions. He was versatile with the ball and quick on his feet, which made him a very sought after player.

Alexander Volkov

Volkov, in 2013.
Personal information
Born	(1964-03-28) 28 March 1964 (age 58) Omsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Ukrainian
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight	243 lb (110 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	1986 / Round: 6 / Pick: 134th overall
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Playing career	1981–2002
Position	Power forward / Center
Number	8
Career history
1981–1986	Stroitel
1986–1988	CSKA Moscow
1988–1989	Stroitel
1989–1992	Atlanta Hawks
1992–1993	Reggio Calabria
1993–1994	Panathinaikos
1994–1995	Olympiacos
2000–2002	Kyiv
Career highlights and awards
Greek League champion (1995) Greek All-Star Game (1994) 2× Soviet League champion (1988, 1989) Soviet League MVP (1989) Italian All-Star Game (1992) FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) Order of Friendship (Russia) (2006) Order of Merit (Ukraine) (2011)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
FIBA Hall of Fame as player
Medals Men's Basketball Representing the  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1988 Seoul FIBA World Cup 1986 Spain 1990 Argentina EuroBasket 1985 West Germany 1987 Greece 1989 Yugoslavia

Professional career

Volkov played professionally for Stroitel (1981–1986; 1988–1989), CSKA Moscow (1986–1988), in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks (1989–1992), Panasonic Reggio Calabria (1992–1993), Panathinaikos (1993–1994), Olympiacos (1994–1995), and Kyiv (2000–2002).

In USSR he was also selected MVP in 1989, and was one of the key players on the Soviet national team since 1985, winning the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul games.

In 1986 he became the second player from the Soviet Union to be drafted to the NBA. He was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 6th round (Sabonis was drafted late in the first round). Volkov signed with the Hawks 3 years later on 1 August 1989. His brief career in NBA was hampered by injury as well as competition from several all-star front-men: Dominique Wilkins, Kevin Willis and Moses Malone. Volkov averaged 5 points and close to 2 rebounds per game during his first (89-90) season. After missing the whole next season, he came back stronger, roughly doubling his statistical output on the floor and even starting in 27 games. Afterwards, he chose to continue his career in Europe.

He was one of the founders of BC Kyiv. Volkov, who had already retired from playing in 1995, returned to play several games, to help the newly found team in 2000. He later also served as the team's President.[1]

National team career

Volkov won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, as a member of the senior Soviet Union national basketball team. He also briefly came out of retirement, to play for the senior Ukrainian national basketball team, in 1998.[2]

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Political career

From 1999 to 2000, Volkov served as a chairman of the State Committee on Sports in Ukraine. In June 2007, he was elected the head of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation.[3]

Volkov was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament in 2006 on the party list of the Our Ukraine Bloc.[4] But against the will of his faction, he joined the Anti-Crisis Coalition, which prompted early elections.[4] In the early parliamentary elections in 2007 he was reelected to Parliament through the Party of Regions.[4] Volkov was again elected through the Party of Regions to the Ukrainian Parliament in 2012.[5] But left this party's faction in parliament on 17 April 2014.[6] and joined the (then new) faction Economic Development one week later.[7] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Volkov failed to get reelected into parliament; he was number 9 on the election list of Strong Ukraine, but the party won only one constituency parliamentary seat.[8][9]

Personal life

In 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Volkov joined Ukrainian volunteers fighting against Russian forces. Volkov's family home in Chernihiv was destroyed by the bombings.[10]

References

External links

• Alexander Volkov at nba.com
• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  and Basketball-Reference.com
• Alexander Volkov at Eurobasket.com
• Alexander Volkov at legabasket.it (in Italian)
• Alexander Volkov at fiba.com
• Alexander Volkov at fibaeurope.com
• Sasha Volkov, the symbol of Ukrainian basketball

На других языках

[fr] Oleksandr Volkov (basket-ball)

[it] Oleksandr Volkov

[ru] Волков, Александр Анатольевич