Career
After starting in his country, Stepania played several years in Slovenia, namely with Olimpija Ljubljana, partnering another center, Radoslav Nesterović, in his first year. Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics late in the first round of the 1998 National Basketball Association Draft, Stepania became the first Georgian player to play in the National Basketball Association. Foreign six seasons, in which he was a backup, he represented the Sonics, the New Jersey Nets, the Miami Heat and the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging four points (a total of 1,118) and rebounds in 270 regular season matches. His best season was in 2002-2003 with the Heat, in which he averaged 5.6 points and seven rebounds per game, battling for position in a club which had lost Alonzo Mourning for the year with a kidney ailment.
Stepania"s career-high in points was 19, coming on 16 November 2001 against the Charlotte Hornets.
On 19 November 2002, against the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire, he recorded a career-best 15 rebounds (on both occasions he represented the Heat). In 2004, after a slow year with the Blazers, Stepania retired from professional basketball, at only 28.
