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Andrei Gennadyevich Kirilenko (; born February 18, 1981), nicknamed AK-47, is a Russian basketball executive and former professional basketball player.
At age fifteen, Kirilenko began playing professional basketball in the Russian Basketball Super League. He played for CSKA Moscow from 1998 to 2001, winning the Russian league MVP award in 2000. In 1999, the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association selected Kirilenko with the twenty-fourth overall pick of the NBA draft. He became the first Russian player selected in the first round of an NBA draft and the youngest European player ever chosen in the NBA draft. Kirilenko joined the Jazz in 2001 and played for the team until 2010. He made the NBA All-Rookie First Team, was an NBA All-Defensive Team pick three times, played in the 2004 All-Star Game, and led the NBA in blocked shots in the 2004–2005 season. During the 2011 NBA lockout, Kirilenko returned to Russia to play for CSKA Moscow, leading the team to the 2012 EuroLeague Final. That year, he was named the EuroLeague MVP, earned an All-EuroLeague first team selection and won the EuroLeague Best Defender award. Kirilenko returned to the NBA for the 2012–2013 season to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves before finishing his NBA career as a member of the Brooklyn Nets in 2014.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Kirilenko became a regular member of the Russian national team. With Russia, he won the EuroBasket title in 2007, earning MVP honors in the process. In 2011, he and his team won a bronze medal. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team on both occasions. Kirilenko was named FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year twice and won a Euroscar award in 2012.
Kirilenko was elected president of the Russian Basketball Federation in 2015.
On June 30, 1999, at age , Kirilenko was the youngest foreign player at the time to be NBA draft in the National Basketball Association, when the Utah Jazz selected him with the 24th pick. Kirilenko was also the first Russian picked in the first round of an NBA Draft. However, he remained with CSKA Moscow for the next two seasons. In the 1999–2000 season, he helped his team win the championship of the North European Basketball League and its second Russian Super League 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 Deane of Lokomotiv Mineralnye Vody.
He showed off his all-around skills in the 2000–01 SuproLeague, finishing in the top ten in 7 out of 8 statistical categories.
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. Kirilenko led the Jazz in many statistical categories:
In the middle of the 2004–05 season against the Washington Wizards, Kirilenko sustained a broken right wrist, sidelining him for the remainder of the season. Despite only playing in 41 of 82 games for the Jazz, he amassed enough blocked shots during the season to qualify as the league leader in blocks per game, and was named to the second team on the NBA All-Defensive Team.
In the 2005–06 season Kirilenko was again among the league's best shot blockers and defenders. He recorded a career high 10 blocks against Indiana on March 26, and finished first in the league with total blocks (220) and second in blocks per game with 3.2, just behind league leader Marcus Camby at 3.3. He was named to the first team on the NBA All-Defensive Team.
Kirilenko averaged 15.3 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 3.2 blocks and 4.3 assists per game in the 2005–2006 season.
Kirilenko and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only 2 NBA players who have finished a game with at least 6 steals, 6 blocks, 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists since 1985–86.
The 2006–2007 season was a tremendous disappointment for Kirilenko. While playing in 70 games and not missing much playing time, he averaged career lows in points (8.3) and field goal attempts (6.0). It has been said that much of this decline can be attributed to the main offensive emphasis on Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Mehmet Okur, and that Kirilenko was uncomfortable losing his position as the main go-to guy on the team. His frustration eventually culminated in a widely publicized breakdown near the end of the Jazz's first-round playoffs series against the Houston Rockets. Kirilenko bounced back to lead Russia to the championship in EuroBasket 2007, and was named MVP of the tournament. Following his performance in the 2007 EuroBasket, he asked to be released from his contract to return to Russia to play basketball. Despite the trade rumors and controversy created by these statements, he rebounded in the 2007–08 NBA season and backed off on trade demands. His statistics for the 2007–08 NBA season were 11.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.2 spg, and 1.5 bpg, all of which were improvements over his previous season's stats (with the exception of blocks and rebounds). He worked out personally with former Jazz shooting guard Jeff Hornacek on his shooting in the 2007 off-season, and his field goal percentage improved from 47% to 51%. Most impressively, his 3-point shooting improved from 21% to a career-high 38%.
On February 24, 2015, Kirilenko signed with CSKA Moscow of the VTB United League for the rest of the 2014–15 season, returning to the club for a third stint. With Kirilenko at the club for the second half of the season, CSKA Moscow managed to advance to the EuroLeague Final Four for the fourth straight season, after eliminating Panathinaikos for the second straight season in the quarterfinals, with a 3–1 series win. However, in the semi-final game, despite being dubbed by media as an absolute favorite to advance, Kirilenko's team, CSKA, once again lost to Olympiacos. The final score was 70–68, after a great Olympiacos comeback in the fourth quarter, led by Vassilis Spanoulis. CSKA Moscow eventually won the third place game, after defeating Fenerbahçe 86–80. Over 11 games played in the EuroLeague, he averaged 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. CSKA Moscow finished the season by winning the VTB United League, after eliminating BC Khimki with a 3–0 series win in the league's finals series.
On June 23, 2015, Kirilenko announced his retirement as a professional basketball player.
In the first game of the 2008 Olympics tournament against Iran, Kirilenko scored 15 points, pulled down 5 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots. Game: RUSSIA vs IRAN (Group A). Fiba.com. Retrieved on May 11, 2012. Against Croatia, he led his team in points scored with 18, and he scored his personal best in the games against Argentina, scoring 23.
Kirilenko won a bronze medal with Russia at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
| * | Led the league |
| * | Led the league |
|- ! colspan="15" | FIBA EuroLeague |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1998–99 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| CSKA Moscow | 7 || 0 || 9.0 || .625 || .000 || .773 || 1.4 || .1 || 1.1 || .0 || 5.3 || 9.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00 | 19 || 19 || 26.9 || .579 || .200 || .646 || 6.2 || 1.8 || 2.5 || .5 || 11.5 || 21.1 |- ! colspan="15" | FIBA SuproLeague |- | style="text-align:left;" | 2000–01 | style="text-align:left;" | CSKA Moscow | 22 || 22 || 33.7 || .575 || .281 || .647 || 9.2 || 2.6 || 2.0 || style="background:#CFECEC;"| 2.1* || 13.9 || 27.0 |- ! colspan="14" | EuroLeague |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2011–12 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| CSKA Moscow | 17 || 17 || 29.9 || .533 || .417 || .758 || style="background:#CFECEC;"|7.5* || 2.4 || 1.5 || style="background:#CFECEC;"|1.9* || 14.1 || style="background:#CFECEC;"|24.2* |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15 | 11 || 9 || 19.3 || .518 || .462 || .682 || 5.3 || 1.2 || 1.1 || 1.2 || 8.5 || 13.9 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 76 || 67 || 26.8 || .561 || .342 || .687 || 6.8 || 1.9 || 1.8 || 1.4 || 11.8 || 21.3
On January 3, 2006, against the Los Angeles Lakers, Kirilenko posted a stat line of 14 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 steals, and 7 blocks. This was the third time in his career he achieved a five-by-five, making him one of only three players (the others being Hakeem Olajuwon and Victor Wembanyama) to achieve this feat more than once in NBA history. It was also the first-ever regulation "5×6" — a game in which a player registers at least 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 blocks, and 6 steals — since the NBA began recording blocks and steals in the 1973–74 season. In 1987, Olajuwon had 38 points, 17 rebounds, 12 blocks, 7 steals, and 6 assists for the Houston Rockets, in a double-overtime win over the Seattle SuperSonics, the only other time a player has earned a 5×6. ESPN.com – NBA – SPECIAL WEEKEND EDITION Pistons playing with purpose. Sports.espn.go.com (January 12, 2006). Retrieved on May 11, 2012. Five-by-Fives (Since the 1986–87 Season). basketball-reference.com
In June 2015, FiveThirtyEight reviewed Kirilenko's statistics, finding that his efficiency in scoring, steals, blocks, assists, offensive rebounds, and all-around versatility would justify consideration for the Basketball Hall of Fame. Ode To The Underrated: Andrei Kirilenko Edition, Neil Paine, FiveThirtyEight.com, June 24, 2015
Kirilenko is nicknamed "AK-47" in reference to his initials, the jersey number he wore, and the AK-47 rifle. Coincidentally, Kirilenko was born in the city of Izhevsk, in the former Soviet Union (now in Russia) where the weapon was first manufactured. "Andrei Kirilenko becomes U.S. citizen", ESPN
Sources suggest Kirilenko was a World of Warcraft (WoW) gamer while playing in the NBA. In the words of former NBA player Channing Frye, he shared a story about being up at 3am the night before an NBA game while playing WoW, when he noticed Kirilenko was online as well. Frye asked Kirilenko if he was ready for the next day's NBA game, and Kirilenko replied "Yeah, probably."
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