I play for peace and love.
Vlade Divac
My dream, play in NBA. When I come here, very difficult for me. It's new country, new language. But is still basketball for me.
To build a friendship takes so much time and so many years. To ruin it, just seconds.
If the NBA wants me to be somebody who can say, 'It is flop or not?' I'll do that for free. For fun.
The Lakers are really the biggest team in the world. Everybody knows the Lakers.
I just think positive and positive things usually happen.
My generation started in big tournaments. '88 Olympics, we got silver. '89 European Championship, we got gold. 1990 World Cup in Argentina, we got gold. '91 European Championship, we got gold, and then there was a civil war, and for three years, we didn't play.
That's what Europe brought to the NBA: the passing skills, the shooting skills.
It's a team game. I feel happier when I pass the ball than when I score.
Sport has built me as a man and taught me not just to compete, but to lead the team as well.
When I decided to come to Sacramento, all my friends thought I was crazy. They said they still have cows and sheep around Arco.
I had to earn the respect from everybody, from referees to opponents, but my teammates, they saw some European guy coming here and I had to prove myself. Luckily, I proved myself, but with big help from the entire Lakers organization.
I am thankful to the Kings organization, all the Kings fans, my family and all the people who supported me throughout my career.
As in life, to be the best in basketball you can't put any limits on your existence.
Sacramento and the Kings organization were always in my thoughts and I often dreamed of having a role in helping our amazing fans realize the ultimate NBA prize.
I didn't like it in the beginning, but later on, if I was in Jerry West's shoes, I would do the same thing. I would trade myself for Kobe, no-brainer.
We take life... we should take it more seriously, because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow.
I had a beautiful life as a basketball player.
I play my best when I'm enjoying myself. So whoever I play against, I try to have fun.
I don't know what is flopping. I think Derek Fisher does a better job of that than I do. It's taking a charge. It's for the refs to decide.
People in the NBA, as far as Europeans or international players, they respect them now. I didn't have any respect from anybody. I had to earn my way.
Basketball gave me everything.
I have to give a lot of credit to David Stern to open up the league, but also in my case, Jerry West and Dr. Buss that had the vision of international guys making it to the NBA.
The year when I left my country, there was still peace. The year after, the war broke out, a lot of people lost their homes, lost their families. When I go back 20 years later I still find people living in refugee camps. So I tried to help them find homes.
Shaq wasn't talented - he was just strong. I was talented, but I wasn't strong.
You have so many players all around the world in the NBA, a lot of different generations. If you don't take basketball as a tool in your life, you can get lost. I know a lot of teammates, a lot of players that had a great career and after that career, they just get lost.
I started playing in school. Lots of kids in Yugoslavia play basketball.
Well, the league is changing every year. It changed when I came. It changed before me. First of all, we have to be thankful for all those guys in the '60s and '70s. They made this league one of the best sports leagues in the world.
I always think if you have friends, you have friends, and it doesn't matter where they are from.
For a lot of Croats, if you're a Serb, they don't want to associate with you. It's just stupid.
People always said you shouldn't get in politics and talk about politics. But I believe the politics are all around us.
Thank God there was no yellow card in basketball because I would get a red card every game.
Throughout my professional basketball career, I have always voiced my patriotism for my native land.
Winning begins with culture and character matters.
When I used to play, I loved playing international because it's more freedom and more ability to improve.
Wins heal everything.
Love liberates you and gives you the power to make the impossible possible.
To me, the game of basketball has always been about love.
I believe that love gives you the freedom and power to share your best self and to inspire others.
Just like in life, when you play basketball, you have to give in order to receive. On the court, you're not only making things move along by giving the ball, but you're also giving your physical and mental strength, your passion, your talent, your trust in your teammates. This way the power can multiply and the whole team wins.
Jerry West really helped a lot, and so did players like Magic Johnson. That's why, at the end of my career, I wanted to finish my career with the Lakers.
The fans really know basketball in Sacramento. They knew when we really needed their support and they were a big part of our success here.
We feel we are blessed by God. We have happy lives.
I am not going to play basketball because I have to play. I am going to play for fun.
Whatever you see in games, Kobe demands more in practice.
Basketball is like life and life is like basketball. It's just a game. So lets play the best we can while we are still here with love, compassion, selflessness fairplay and supporting each other to be bigger and better human beings.
Basketball is the opposite of selfishness, basketball is solely about giving and sharing and caring for one another.
It was a lovely story that I finished my career with Kobe, with somebody who I was traded for. I have a lot of respect for the guy. I think he's definitely, by far, the best talent that I ever, ever played with.
It's good for basketball to grow.
Kobe made an impact on basketball in a big way. He came in the League when he was 17 years old, but he was working on his game every day... The way he played, people all around the world loved the passion that he put in for basketball.
