From refugee to NBA star.

Vladimir Radmanovic is an important part of the Lakers depth that is keeping them afloat despite injuries to Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Chris Mihm and Trevor Ariza. He had some explaining to do when he joined me on The Steve Mason Show today. What happened last night against a bad Charlotte team? What's with Kobe and the technicals? When will Pau Gasol be back?

I asked all of the important basketball questions in this interview. I also asked him about his charity work both here in the US and back in his native Serbia. In 1994, he and his family were refugees in a war-torn country, and he knows that there are a lot of at-risk kids back in Serbia now that need help.

Last year, Vlady gave $100,000 to a foundation operated by former Laker Vlade Divac (also Serbian). Then the Vlad Man started his own program through International Orthodox Christian Charities with $660,000 out of his own pocket. He''l be signing autographs on Saturday  from 3-4p at The Team LA Store at CityWalk to help raise awareness for his Vladimir Radmanovic Children's Foundation. Here's a link to Vladi's Official Website.

And just for fun, here's a cool Radmanovic moment as described by Joel Myers.