Quotes from Vlade Divac

Basketball is the opposite of selfishness, basketball is solely about giving and sharing and caring for one another.

The Lakers are really the biggest team in the world. Everybody knows the Lakers.

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.

I thought, 'I'm going to play in Yugoslavia, then I'll go to play in Italy or Spain.' Then I'll be 28 or 29 and I'll try NBA. I never thought I can play in NBA because NBA was totally different world for us in Europe.

Going to Charlotte and being there two years, I missed L.A., but it was good for me.

Yugoslavia is a little country, and everybody likes basketball. If I don't play for my national team, everybody be sad.

I came here and actually fell in love with Charlotte and the Hornets. That's exactly what happened to me. I found a new way of motivation. Charlotte basically extended my career for the next seven years. I was thinking of retiring. I was 30 and played seven more years after that, just because basketball felt different here in Charlotte.

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.

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.

Because I play in NBA, I am like ambassador of Yugoslavia. Los Angeles before, nobody hear of Yugoslavia. Now I think much people who look at basketball hear of Yugoslavia.

In NBA anything is possible.

For a lot of Croats, if you're a Serb, they don't want to associate with you. It's just stupid.

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.

NBA is totally different in style. In NBA, we play much more aggressive, much harder. It's not time for thinking. In Europe, we play every week, one game. Here we play every second day so if you lose, you don't have time to think about losing. Just go forward.

Am I perfect? Not at all. I'm just like everybody else.

Love liberates you and gives you the power to make the impossible possible.

As in life, to be the best in basketball you can't put any limits on your existence.

The better team sometimes loses.

When I used to play, I loved playing international because it's more freedom and more ability to improve.