Andrei Kirilenko Becomes US Citizen

Filed under: Jazz

Andrei Kirilenko isn't making a big deal about it -- he didn't even tell his coach, Jerry Sloan -- but the Russian forward became a U.S. citizen on Monday.

Kirilenko and his wife Masha passed their immigration tests, and were sworn as American citizens at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office, according to the Desert News.

Drafted by the Jazz in 1999, Kirilenko has spent his entire 10-year career in Utah after coming over for the 2001-02 NBA season. Talking to reporters on Tuesday, he said "it was time" to become a U.S. citizen. He and his wife have two sons who are already have citizenship having been born in the U.S., and they adopted a daughter from Russia who Kirilenko said will eventually get citizenship, too.

For those curious about the test, Kirilenko said it was tough, but that he was well prepared. More on that from the Deseret News:

 

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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/01/12/andrei-kirilenko-becomes-us-citizen/

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