THE Vland Divac It is one of the most important European basketball players in history, with the 57 -year -old Serb having a special story with many aspects and a career especially in NBA in which he did a lot.
His name Vlade Divacs came to the forefront after the serious accident involved in Montenegro on Thursday night (19/6/25)with the veteran NBAER having a hip fracture.
Early reports indicate that an artificial hip has been placed in the Serb, with himself being hospitalized, but more details about his health have not been disclosed.
But who was Vlade Divacs and why his career is so great?
The first steps
Vlade Divac was born on February 3, 1968, in Priepolig, a small Serbian town, which at that time was part of Yugoslavia.
Like many athletes, Vlade Divac had tried other sports in his childhood years, with the Serb being weak in football. However, entering adolescence and at the urging of Nikola Apacic (a coach who would change his career), he decided to devote himself to basketball!
A decision that would change his life, as the young Serb saw that his real talent is not in football, but in basketball, in which he was supposed to have a great career.
However, nothing would be easy for Divac. Before he completed his 14 years, he abandoned his father’s home to move to Kraliev and stay with his grandmother so that he could join a group named Soga. There he also made his first steps, with himself having one and only dream: to become a professional basketball player.
The Partizan chapter
His appearances in Kralievi caught the attention of coach Milan-Kieh Bogojevic, who was impressed by Divacs inviting him to participate in the sloga training. He played in the team from 1982 to 1986.
From the silver slogan, he will get the ticket to Partizan, where other stars of the time were played at that time such as Zarko Paspali, Zeljko Obradovic and Miroslav Petsarski.
He stayed in black and white until 1989, winning a championship (1987) and a Yugoslavia Cup (1989), as well as the Korac Cup of the 1988/89 season. In the same year he even won the top European basketball player award
At the same time, he participated in 1988 in the maiden Final Four of the European Championship in Ghent, where Partizan ranked Tuesday, losing to the semifinals by Maccabi Tel Aviv and dominating the small Mars final, with Divacs scoring 19 and 31 points!
The NBA, the Lakers and the Historic Trade with Kobe Bryant
What Vlade Divacs did in Europe did not take long to draw the interest of teams from the NBA, with Los Angeles Lakers who went in 1989.
The journey from Serbia to secular Los Angeles was not easy for the young-tale-basketball player, who is said to have not even known English!
However, his personality and hard work won teammates and teams, with Vlade Divacs but failing to make the famous Angels in the city to conquer the champion’s ring.
Indeed, in the summer of 1995, Divac will become part of a historic trade in which the Serb will go to Charlotte Hornets, with the Lakers taking Kobe Bryant.
After two seasons he will return to Europe and the Red Star, but he will play in just two games, as his connection to Partizan has brought huge tension to Belgrade! This will make the trip from Europe to the other side of the Atlantic to wear the Sacramento Kings jersey, with whom he was particularly connected.
The team from Sacramento even withdrew the jersey of Divac’s number 21 for his offer to the team, where he played for six seasons.
In the summer of 2004, Divac returned to the Lakers, with whose first steps in the NBA, but a chronic waist problem did not allow him to play as much as he would like, with the Serb at the end of the season to announce his retirement from active action.
The Serb, among other things, managed to become the first European player to reach a thousand NBA entries, a record that was unlikely at that time.
The friendship that… went out with Drazen
The 1990s in Argentina’s 1990 was the beginning of his friendship with Drazen Petrovic. In the dominance of the Soviets in the final, a fan with the flag of Croatia entered the field!
Divac’s anger grabbed the flag, causing this move to spark reactions. One of those of Drazen Petrovic, with whom he was united by a brotherly friendship, after that particular incident would be nothing.
Indeed, when in the summer of 1993, Petrovic died in a car crash, Divac will not attend his funeral, with himself several years later visiting the parents of the wrongdoer Drazen in Croatia, reconciled with them.
The career after basketball
In 2008 he was a consultant to the Serbian government and in 2009 he was elected chairman of the Olympic Committee of his homeland. In 2017, he was succeeded by the former coach, Bozidar Malkovic, Divac was heavily criticized for the committee’s failure to prevent Kosovo’s accession to the Board of Directors. in 2014. America waited for him again.
Since 2015 he has been Vice President of Sacramento Kings and hired his former teammate in Kings Petsa Stojakovic as his associate. In August 2020, both left.
In Serbia it is so popular that its compatriots say “one day will become president of the country”. Jerry West has stressed in an unsuspecting moment that “he is an excellent diplomat. It will not be impressed if it becomes president. “
With his wife, Anna, they got married a month after his choice in the 1989 draft. They had two sons, Luke and Matties, and they also have a daughter, Petra, who they adopted when they were an infant and lost parents in the war …
In 2007, he founded with his partner the Humanitarian Organization Divac, which financially supports both Americans and their compatriots (more than 500,000) who lost families and houses during the bombings.
“God gave me a talent and a gift. I lived an amazing life as a player and my sport gave me everything. Offering as much as I can is my return, “he has explained.
To Ηall of Fame
In 2019, Vlade Divac learned that he will enter the NBA’s Hall of Fame as one of the most important athletes to play in the world’s top basketball championship.
“Although the politicians, wars and hatred went to us, they did not succeed. They did not know that the love we had for each other was much stronger than the hatred they wanted to convey to us. The Balkans are like a dysfunctional family. We may fight and disagree, but in the end we are family, ”he said, among other things, in his speech when
It is worth noting that Divac and his wife Anna have two sons, Luca and Matija, and have adopted a daughter Petra, whose biological parents were Kosovo Serbs killed by snipers of the liberation army.