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Vlade Divac

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Vlade Divac
Divac in 2007
Sacramento Kings
PositionGeneral Manager
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1968-02-03) February 3, 1968 (age 56)
Prijepolje, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Listed height7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)
Listed weight243 lb (110 kg)
Career information
NBA draft1989: 1st round, 26th overall pick
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career1983–2005
PositionCenter
Number12, 21
Career history
1983–1986Sloga
1986–1989Partizan
1989–1996Los Angeles Lakers
1996–1998Charlotte Hornets
1999Crvena zvezda
1998–2004Sacramento Kings
2004–2005Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points13,398 (11.8 ppg)
Rebounds9,326 (8.2 rpg)
Blocks1,631 (1.4 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference
FIBA Hall of Fame
Medals
Representing  SFR Yugoslavia
Men's Basketball
Summer Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul SFR Yugoslavia
FIBA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1986 Spain SFR Yugoslavia
Gold medal – first place 1990 Argentina SFR Yugoslavia
FIBA EuroBasket
Bronze medal – third place 1987 Greece SFR Yugoslavia
Gold medal – first place 1989 Yugoslavia SFR Yugoslavia
Gold medal – first place 1991 Italy SFR Yugoslavia
Universiade
Gold medal – first place 1987 Zagreb SFR Yugoslavia
Representing  FR Yugoslavia
Summer Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1996 Atlanta FR Yugoslavia
FIBA World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2002 USA FR Yugoslavia
FIBA EuroBasket
Gold medal – first place 1995 Greece FR Yugoslavia
Bronze medal – third place 1999 France FR Yugoslavia

Vlade Divac (Serbian Cyrillic: Владе Дивац, pronounced [ʋlǎːde dǐːʋats]; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player, currently serving as the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento Kings.[1]

Divac spent most of his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). At 7 ft 1 in, he played center and was known for his passing skills. He was among the first group of European basketball players to transfer to the NBA in the late 1980s and was named one of the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors.[2] He is one of seven players in NBA history to record 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol and Hakeem Olajuwon.[3][n 1] Divac was also the first player born and trained outside the United States to play in over 1,000 games in the NBA. On August 20, 2010, he was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play in international competition.[4]

Aside from being noticed for his basketball abilities, Divac is also known as a humanitarian, helping children in his native country of Serbia, and in Africa.[5] In October 2008, he was appointed as government adviser in Serbia for humanitarian issues.[6] In February 2009, he was elected President of the Serbian Olympic Committee for a 4-year term [7] and re-elected in November 2012.[8] In 2013, Divac received an honor from the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.[9]

Club playing career

Divac began playing basketball in his home town Prijepolje for the team KK Elan. He began his professional career in Yugoslavia playing for Sloga from Kraljevo, and was immediately noted for scoring 27 points against Crvena zvezda.[10]

KK Partizan

In summer 1986, he was the top star of the transfer season, signing for Partizan for DM14,000.[10]

In 1987, with Divac, Aleksandar Đorđević, Žarko Paspalj, Željko Obradović, and with Duško Vujošević at the helm, Partizan had a "dream team", which won the Yugoslavian league title, but failed to reach the Euroleague top the next season, having lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinal in Ghent.[11] Jugoplastika with Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč was a stronger team in the subsequent three years, reigning both in Yugoslavia and in Europe.

Divac had an unusual style compared to centers of his generation: despite his height, he possessed good mobility, had good control of the ball, and was a decent shooter. On occasion, he would also act as a playmaker. His trademark moves included a mid-range shot at the top of the key and flip shots around the rim while facing the complete opposite direction. His quirky moves complemented how he liked playing gags on the field: in the 1989 Eurobasket, he lifted teammate Zoran Radović for a slam dunk. In just four professional seasons in Europe, he became the most sought-after big man on the continent after Arvydas Sabonis.[10]

Los Angeles Lakers

Drafted into the NBA in 1989 by the Los Angeles Lakers, Divac became one of the first European players to have an impact in the league. Under the mentorship of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, he improved his play and adapted to the American style of basketball. Though he spoke no English, he quickly became popular among his teammates and the public for his charm and joviality. In the 1989–90 season, he was selected into the NBA All-Rookie Team.[10]

Divac earned a reputation for flopping, or deceiving the officials into calling a foul on the other team by purposely falling to the floor upon contact with an opposing player.[12] Veteran NBA forward P. J. Brown claimed that Divac might have been the best of all time at flopping.[13] Divac freely admitted doing so, adding that he usually did it when he felt like the officials had missed some calls and owed him.[14] However, when the NBA instituted anti-flopping penalties in 2012, Divac expressed his support for such rules, stating that he felt players after him were "overdo[ing] it" with respect to flopping. [2] Ian Thomsen, a Sports Illustrated columnist, grouped Divac with fellow international players Anderson Varejão and Manu Ginóbili as the players who "made [flopping] famous", exaggerating contact on the court in a manner analogous to diving in FIFA games.[15]

Charlotte Hornets

On July 1, 1996, Divac was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant and played two seasons there until signing with the Sacramento Kings in July 1998.

Two games with KK Crvena zvezda

During the 1998–99 NBA lockout, in January 1999, Divac played 2 games for Partizan's eternal rival KK Crvena Zvezda in the 1998–99 Euroleague season.[16]

His debut for the crveno-beli took place mid-season on Orthodox Christmas versus heavily favoured Žalgiris side led by Tyus Edney, Mindaugas Žukauskas, Saulius Štombergas, and Jiří Zídek Jr.. Supported by a raucous home crowd and energized by Divac's arrival as well as his 16 points and 8 rebounds, Crvena zvezda pulled off a 77-69 memorable upset win.[17]

Divac's brief stint with Crvena zvezda, for which he reportedly got paid US$250,000 per game,[17] immediately became a sore point with KK Partizan fans who unfurled a banner calling him a traitor at their club's next game.[17]

The issue of playing for the hated cross-town rival reignited several years later when Divac returned to KK Partizan as club president. At the time he stated his decision to play for Crvena zvezda was "a mistake".[17]

Sacramento Kings

He then signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings where he played for six seasons alongside fellow countryman Peja Stojaković. Teamed with Stojaković, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Webber and Mike Bibby; Divac revitalized the Sacramento Kings franchise. The Kings rose in the NBA ranks, becoming a perennial playoff contender and eventually a championship contender, leading the league in wins in 2001–02.[18] The Kings, however, could not get past the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat them in a 7-game series in 2002. [19]

Return to the Lakers

After the 2003–04 NBA season, Divac became a free agent. He signed a deal to return to the Lakers, part of Mitch Kupchak's plan to overhaul Laker basketball. The Lakers, following a defeat in the NBA Finals, had traded away or released most of their players, including Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Derek Fisher and more; Divac was supposed to help fill that void.

However, Divac suffered back problems and could not play most of the season, and even when he returned, could only play about nine minutes per game, averaging 2.3 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game in 15 games, he played 8 games early in the season and 7 more in the final month of the season.

On 14 July 2005, 37-year-old Divac announced his retirement, ending his sixteen-year NBA and twenty-two-year professional basketball career.[20] Divac accepted a position with the Lakers as a European liaison to help with scouting overseas.

Retirement

The Kings retired his No. 21 jersey in a ceremony on March 31, 2009.[21] Over his 16 years in the NBA, Divac earned over $93,000,000 in salary.[22] In September 2009, he played for the "NBA Generations" team in the 2009 NBA Asia Challenge, a series of exhibitions against Korean Basketball League and Philippine Basketball Association players.[23]

National team

File:Vlade Divac & Drazen Petrovic in Argentina 1990.jpg
Divac with Drazen Petrovic in the 1990 FIBA World Championship held in Argentina.

In summer 1986, at 18, right after signing for KK Partizan, Divac debuted for the senior Yugoslavia national basketball team at the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Madrid, on invitation by the head coach Krešimir Ćosić. However, the excellent rookie's performance was spoiled by the event in the semi-finals against Soviet Union. Forty-five seconds before the end, Yugoslavia had a comfortable lead of 9 points, but Soviets scored two three-pointers within a few seconds and cut the difference to 3 points. Yugoslavia tried to hold the ball for the remaining time, opting to continue the play with throw-ins instead of free throws following fouls, but with only 14 seconds left, Divac committed a double dribble, the Soviets were awarded the ball, and tied the score with another three-pointer. In the overtime, the Soviets easily prevailed against the shocked Yugoslavs, who had to be content with the bronze.[10]

The next year, Divac participated in the team that took the gold at the FIBA Junior World Championship (since split into separate under-19 and under-21 events) in Bormio, Italy. That event launched the young generation of Yugoslavian basketballers, also featuring stars like Rađa and Kukoč, regarded as likely the best in history. Before the breakup of Yugoslavia, they would also take the titles at EuroBasket 1989 and the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Argentina,[10] where they were led by Dražen Petrović,[24] as well as the EuroBasket 1991 title, with Aleksandar Đorđević at point guard.[25]

Divac (forth from right, at centre) with the Yugoslavia team that won the EuroBasket 1989.

When Yugoslavia won the gold in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, fans rushed the court. One of them was holding a Croatian flag, one of the six republics that made up Yugoslavia. Divac claims that he told the man that he should not be waving that flag, since this was a win for Yugoslavia. Divac claims the man made a derogatory remark about the Yugoslav flag, at which point Divac took his flag from him. This happened during a very tense time where nationalistic pride was threatening to tear Yugoslavia apart and ignite a war. The taking of the flag made Divac a hero to Serbs, and a villain to Croatians. Divac has stated that he did not mean it as an act against Croatia and he would have taken away a Serbian flag if a Serb fan had done the same.[26][27]

This action, along with the Yugoslav Wars, alienated Divac from many of his former Croatian friends, particularly Dražen Petrović, whom he considered his best friend.[26] When Yugoslavia won EuroBasket 1995, and Croatia won bronze, Croatia, still at war with Serbs from Croatia, walked off the podium during the medal ceremony. The teams had not faced each other in the tournament.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1989–90 LA Lakers 82 5 19.6 .499 .000 .708 6.2 0.9 1.0 1.4 8.5
1990–91 LA Lakers 82 81 28.2 .565 .357 .703 8.1 1.1 1.3 1.5 11.2
1991–92 LA Lakers 36 18 27.2 .495 .263 .768 6.9 1.7 1.5 1.0 11.3
1992–93 LA Lakers 82 69 30.8 .485 .280 .689 8.9 2.8 1.6 1.7 12.8
1993–94 LA Lakers 79 73 34.0 .506 .191 .686 10.8 3.9 1.2 1.4 14.2
1994–95 LA Lakers 80 80 35.1 .507 .185 .777 10.4 4.1 1.4 2.2 16.0
1995–96 LA Lakers 79 79 31.3 .513 .167 .641 8.6 3.3 1.0 1.7 12.9
1996–97 Charlotte 81 80 35.1 .494 .234 .683 9.0 3.7 1.3 2.2 12.6
1997–98 Charlotte 64 41 28.2 .498 .214 .691 8.1 2.7 1.3 1.5 10.4
1998–99 Sacramento 50 50 35.2 .470 .256 .702 10.0 4.3 0.9 1.0 14.3
1999–2000 Sacramento 82 81 29.0 .503 .269 .691 8.3 2.9 1.3 1.3 12.3
2000–01 Sacramento 81 81 29.9 .482 .286 .691 8.3 2.9 1.1 1.1 12.0
2001–02 Sacramento 80 80 30.3 .472 .231 .615 8.4 3.7 1.0 1.2 11.1
2002–03 Sacramento 80 80 29.8 .466 .240 .713 7.2 3.4 1.0 1.3 9.9
2003–04 Sacramento 81 81 28.6 .470 .154 .654 5.7 5.3 0.7 1.0 9.9
2004–05 LA Lakers 15 0 8.7 .419 .000 .667 2.1 1.3 0.3 0.1 2.3
Career 1134 979 29.8 .495 .235 .692 8.2 3.1 1.1 1.4 11.8

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1990 LA Lakers 9 1 19.4 .727 .500 .895 5.3 1.1 0.9 1.7 9.1
1991 LA Lakers 19 19 32.1 .564 .167 .803 6.7 1.1 1.4 2.2 13.3
1992 LA Lakers 4 4 35.8 .349 .000 .900 5.5 3.8 1.3 0.8 9.8
1993 LA Lakers 5 5 33.4 .500 .444 .545 9.4 5.6 1.2 2.4 18.0
1995 LA Lakers 10 10 38.8 .467 .222 .645 8.5 3.1 0.8 1.3 15.6
1996 LA Lakers 4 4 28.8 .429 .200 .625 7.5 2.0 0.0 1.3 9.0
1997 Charlotte 3 3 38.7 .457 .000 .800 8.7 3.3 1.0 2.0 18.0
1998 Charlotte 9 9 38.3 .483 .000 .606 10.9 3.4 0.8 1.6 11.6
1999 Sacramento 5 5 39.6 .446 .200 .833 10.0 4.6 1.6 0.8 16.2
2000 Sacramento 5 5 32.0 .357 .000 .696 7.2 2.8 1.4 0.8 11.2
2001 Sacramento 8 8 28.1 .350 .333 .763 8.4 2.4 1.0 1.5 10.8
2002 Sacramento 16 16 33.4 .464 .268 .755 9.3 1.7 1.1 1.3 13.5
2003 Sacramento 12 12 26.4 .560 .000 .673 5.8 2.3 0.7 0.9 11.4
2004 Sacramento 12 12 19.6 .437 .000 .739 4.9 1.8 0.3 0.4 6.6
Career 121 113 30.8 .480 .241 .731 7.5 2.4 1.0 1.4 12.1

Major career achievements

KK Partizan

Yugoslavia national team

NBA

  • Named to the 1989–90 NBA All-Rookie First Team after averaging 8.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg for the Lakers
  • Appeared in the 1991 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls and averaged 12.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 2.4 apg in 121 career NBA Playoff games
  • Ranks 4th in Lakers franchise history with 830 blocked shots
  • Ranked 2nd on the Kings in scoring (14.3 ppg), rebounds (10.0 rpg, 10th in the NBA), assists (4.3 apg) and blocked shots (1.02 bpg) in 1998–99
  • Ranked 12th in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.503) in 1999–2000
  • Named NBA All-Star, 2001
  • One of only two basketball players born and trained in Europe to play at least 1,000 NBA games (1,134; Dirk Nowitzki is the other)
  • One of only four basketball players born and trained in Europe (Peja Stojaković, Dražen Petrović and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the others) to have his number retired by an NBA team

Administrative career

Through the twilight of his playing career and afterwards, Divac focused on three fields: humanitarian work, sport management, and investment.

KK Partizan

In late 2000, following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević whose policies Divac had been openly critical of throughout mid-to-late 1990s,[28] Divac and former teammate Predrag Danilović took over their former club KK Partizan. They did so on initiative by Ivica Dačić, the club's outgoing president and, more importantly, a suddenly marginalized politician who, due to his association with Milošević, was forced to leave his post at the club. Seeing that various state-owned companies and community property were being taken over in a dubious manner during the power vacuum that resulted from régime change, Dačić saw it prudent to bring the club's two former greats as a safeguard against the same happening to KK Partizan. Divac became the club's president while Danilović took the vice-president role.[29]

Freshly retired from playing, Danilović was actually running the club's day-to-day operations since Divac was still very actively involved with the Sacramento Kings at the time. The head coach they inherited, Darko Russo, finished out the 2000–01 season before they decided in summer 2001 to bring back their mentor Duško Vujošević to be the new head coach.

Though the duo never stated so outright, their additional motivation in getting involved with KK Partizan again was perceived to be gaining the upper hand on the club's eventual privatisation process once the new Law on Sports gets passed in the Serbian parliament. Since the exact ownership structure of a publicly owned KK Partizan wasn't and still isn't really clear, potential investors decided to stay away, at least until the law appears. Divac and Danilović appeared pretty much out of nowhere in this regard but enjoyed plenty of fan and public support because most preferred to see their beloved club owned and operated by its former stars rather than a faceless corporation or a group of politicians, managers or businessmen close to the ruling coalition. However, after a few years the duo ran out of patience and pulled out of the venture in late 2004 because it became too much of a financial burden with no end-goal in sight. While he stopped performing any official functions at the club, Divac continues to be involved with it in a lesser capacity.

LA Lakers

From 2005 to 2006, Divac was employed as European scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Real Madrid

In June 2006, through his friendship with Predrag Mijatović, Divac linked up with Ramón Calderón as part of the lawyer's candidate bid for the presidency of Real Madrid polideportivo. When Calderón closely won the club elections on July 2, 2006, Divac was introduced as the head of operations at Real Madrid basketball club.

However, Divac's role in the club's day-to-day operations was largely symbolic, and even he himself admitted as much in a March 2007 interview for Croatian weekly Globus: "I literally do nothing and I only serve as part of the royal club's image. I only accepted the job because of Mijatović, who is currently the football director at Real".[30]

Serbian Olympic Committee

Divac was proposed in 2000 as Yugoslavia's candidate for the Sport Commission of the International Olympic Committee in spring 2000. This candidature was withdrawn under pressure from Milošević regime.[31] In February 2009, Divac ran for presidency of the Olympic Committee of Serbia against incumbent president Ivan Ćurković.[32] He won the race after Ćurković withdrew just before the scheduled voting.[7] In November 2012, he was re-elected as the sole candidate; the end of his second mandate coincides with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[8]

In December 2014, Kosovo was accepted as a full member of the International Olympic Committee. Divac and the Serbian Olympic Committee have been criticised, chiefly by the Democratic Party of Serbia, for failing to take any effort to prevent that.[33] Divac stated that he is not happy with the decision of the IOC, but could not have prevented it as it had already been made, and said he would accept it "in the interest of the athletes".[34]

Sacramento Kings

In March 2015, Divac was hired as the vice president of basketball and franchise operations by the Sacramento Kings.[35] He was promoted as vice president of basketball operations and general manager on 31 August 2015.[1] In late March 2016 Divac signed a multiyear contract extension with the organization.[36]

Investments

Divac has been involved in many non-basketball endeavors while still actively playing in the NBA, and more so after he retired. He is an active restaurant investor in the Sacramento, California area. However, his attempts to make major investments in Serbia failed, for a variety of reasons.

The most notable affair was a highly publicized business venture—takeover bid of profitable beverage producer Knjaz Miloš. Divac's company "Apurna", in a joint venture with French dairy giant Danone, ostensibly proposed the best bid, but the takeover was aborted by the Serbia's Securities Commission, because Danone/Apurna allegedly offered extra money to small shareholders.[37] In the repeated bid, Divac and Danone eventually withdrew and the sale went to FPP Balkan Ltd., a privatization fund from the Cayman Islands. The entire messy affair caused great friction within the Serbian government, wide speculation about corruption, resignation of the Securities Commission chief, and even a police investigation.[38]

Another similar, though less spectacular, episode happened with 2005 Divac's attempt to take over the Večernje novosti, a Serbian high-circulation daily.[39] He made an agreement with small shareholders to take over the company by means of registering a new company with joint capital, which would increase the share capital. However, the Serbian Government intervened and halted what should have been a mere technical move. While the attempted takeover was a "backdoor" one indeed, it was legal and similar cases had already happened. The government ostensibly feared lack of control over the influential daily. Even though the Supreme Court of Serbia eventually ruled in Divac's favor, he withdrew from the contest, citing "friendly advice" by unnamed persons.[40] Embittered, he decided to stop his attempts to invest in Serbia: "All of this is ugly and I'm very upset... I realized that there's no place for me in Serbia and my friends can meet me in Madrid from now on... In Serbia, some different rules are in effect, and I can't conceive them".[41]

However, that turned out not to be true, as in October 2007 Divac got legally registered as 100% owner of Voda Voda, a bottled water brand previously owned by businessman Vojin Đorđević. That transaction was also followed by a stir of controversy, as Đorđević publicly accused Divac of deceit, asserting that he broke a gentlemen's agreement they had, and questioning the validity of the contract that Divac presented to the Serbian Business Registers Agency. The circumstances surrounding the deal (as of November 2007) are still unclear: Divac claims that he indeed loaned some money to the Đorđević's Si&Si company, which was in financial troubles, and after Đorđević failed to fulfill his part of the deal, just used the contract, already properly signed by Đorđević, to claim ownership of the company.[42][43]

Humanitarian work

Vlade Divac (rear, center) alongside Crown Prince Alexander II in 2005, at an event for World Heart Day

Divac is a humanitarian worker, focusing on aid to children worldwide and refugees in his home country. Along with six Serbian basketball teammates, Divac established the charity called Group Seven, later renamed to "Divac's Children Foundation", and works closely with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), helping them to raise around US$500,000 for humanitarian assistance in Serbia since 1997.[44] Divac's own foundation, presided by his wife Snežana, provided over $2,500,000 in humanitarian assistance through 1998–2007.[45]

In late 2007 Divac founded a humanitarian organization, "You Can Too" (Serbian: Можеш и ти/Možeš i ti), bent on assisting the refugees in Serbia. Serbia has around 500,000 refugees from the 1990s Yugoslav wars, making it the country with the largest refugee problem in Europe.[45] Around 7,800 of those people still live in collective centers under poor conditions, so the organization has vouched itself to buy abandoned countryside houses, in an attempt to finally solve their accommodation problem.[46]

From September 21 to 23, 2007, Divac organized an official farewell from active basketball career in his hometown Prijepolje and Belgrade, simultaneously promoting the "You Can Too" campaign. The spectacle culminated in gathering of Divac and his worldwide friends in front of 10,000 people outside the National Assembly building.[47]

In the early 1990s, the song "Vlade Divac" by Belgrade band Deca Loših Muzičara, devoted to his transfer to Lakers, was a big hit; the band finally got to personally meet Divac and perform the song with him on his farewell party in 2007.[48]

During his time with the Lakers, Divac's popularity and marketing potential, in addition to his entertaining and good-natured personality, were picked up on by the American TV industry. As a result, he appeared quite a few times on Los Angeles-based late night programmes such as The Arsenio Hall Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 1990, he was featured in a commercial with Laker teammates A. C. Green and Mychal Thompson for the Schick brand razors company.[49] He also appeared in American sitcoms Married... with Children and Coach, as well as in the short lived Good Sports sitcom. On the big screen Divac took part in basketball-based movies Eddie, Space Jam and Juwanna Mann. Later in his career, he appeared on Larry King Live in 1999 and The Late Late Show in 2002.

In Serbia, all throughout his playing career, Divac regularly appeared in commercials pitching products ranging from Atlas Beer to Société Générale Bank mortgage credit plans. He appeared in a national TV commercial in the United States alongside former NBA star Darryl Dawkins for Taco Bell.

Divac appeared as a special guest on Eurovision 2008. He threw a ball into the audience, which marked the beginning of televoting.

Divac features in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Once Brothers, where he discusses the exploits of the Yugoslavia national basketball team in the late 1980s and early 1990s and how the Yugoslav Wars tore them apart, especially in context of his broken friendship with Croatian player Dražen Petrović.[26]

Divac appears in Boris Malagurski's documentary film The Weight of Chains, in which he talks about the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Personal life

Divac and his wife, Snežana, have two sons, Luka and Matija, and an adopted daughter, Petra, whose biological parents were killed by Kosovo Liberation Army snipers during the Kosovo War.[28]

Filmography

Movies

  • The Weight of Chains (2010) – Himself (documentary interview)
  • We are No Angels 3: Rock & Roll Fight Back (2008) – God
  • Crossover (2004) – Himself
  • Juwanna Mann (2002) – beat player Morse
  • Driving Me Crazy (TV) (2000) – Viglione, Gene
  • Space Jam (1996) – Himself (Los Angeles Lakers)
  • Eddie (1996) – Himself (Los Angeles Lakers)

Television

  • Želite li da postanete milioner? – Serbia, New Year's 2008 celebrity charity edition – Himself (Answered 13 questions, won RSD1,250,000)
  • Crni Gruja, "Kolac" (2003) – Vampir Toza
  • Rachel Gunn, R.N., "Rachel Sees Red" (2000)
  • Married... with Children, episode "A Tisket, a Tasket, Can Peg Make a Basket?" (1993) – Himself
  • Coach, "Dateline-Bangkok" (1992) – delivery man
  • Good Sports, "The Reviews are in" (1991) – Himself
  • Once Brothers – ESPN documentary about Dražen Petrović and Vlade Divac

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Kings Announce Basketball Operations Update". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. August 31, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  2. ^ "Experts decide European Club Basketball's 50 greatest contributors – 50 YEARS – Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  3. ^ "Vlade Divac Announces Retirement; Accepts Position With Lakers | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS". Nba.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  4. ^ "FIBA announces 2010 Hall of Fame Class". FIBA. 2010-08-20.
  5. ^ "Divac Creates New Team With "You Can Too" Campaign". NBA.com. 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  6. ^ [1] Archived October 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ a b "Divac na čelu OKS naredne četiri godine" (in Serbian). Blic. 2009-02-24.
  8. ^ a b "Vlade Divac ponovo izabran za predsednika Olimpijskog komiteta" (in Serbian). Beta. November 7, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Kings News Full | The Official Site Of The Sacramento Kings". Nba.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Slobodan Georgijev (2007-09-20). "Srbin broj jedan van Srbije" (in Serbian). Vreme.
  11. ^ "Istorija: Novi "Dream Team"". Partizan official website. Retrieved 2007-09-24. [dead link‍]
  12. ^ Tim Povtak (2007-01-28). "Shutting down acting school?". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  13. ^ Flopping keeps cropping up, by Doug Haller, The Arizona Republic, published March 18, 2007, retrieved April 29, 2007
  14. ^ BEST ACTOR: DIVAC IN `FLOP WARS II', by Kevin Modesti, Los Angeles Daily News, published May 22, 2002
  15. ^ Thomsen, Ian (September 28, 2012). "NBA's new flopping policy the best response to a difficult problem". Sports Illustrated. cnn.com. Retrieved 2012-09-28. The ugly trend of faking physical contact began in soccer, a sport in which gamesmanship has given way to players writhing in false agony around the world. Soccer has been unable to fix its problem, but now the NBA will have an opportunity to deter players from trying to simulate violent contact in ways made famous by Vlade Divac, Manu Ginobili and Anderson Varejao.
  16. ^ "profile". Fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  17. ^ a b c d "Prošli put protiv Žalgirisa za Zvezdu je igrao..." mondo.rs. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  18. ^ "NBA Standings - 2001-2002". Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  19. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/ex-referee-tim-donaghy-blows-whistle-nba-dirty-secrets-article-1.293192
  20. ^ http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/divac_retires_051018.html
  21. ^ Kings retire Divac's No. 21 Jersey[permanent dead link‍] Yahoo! Sports, March 31, 2009
  22. ^ "Vlade Divac NBA & ABA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  23. ^ "NBA Asia Challenge 2009". NBA.com. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  24. ^ "Eurobasket 1989". FIBA.
  25. ^ "Eurobasket 1991". FIBA.
  26. ^ a b c Scott Tobias (2010-10-12). "Once Brothers". A. V. club.
  27. ^ John Scheibe (2010-12-10). "Television review: Vlade Divac searches for closure in ESPN's 'Once Brothers'". LA Times.
  28. ^ a b Rick Reilly (1999-05-24). "Vlade Divac's Private War". Sports Illustrated.
  29. ^ Ž. Jevtić (2008-10-16). "Divac savetuje Dačića". Blic.
  30. ^ "Divac: Kandidovaću se za predsednika Srbije" (in Serbian). MONDO web portal. 2007-03-08.
  31. ^ http://www.vreme.com/arhiva_html/490/03.html
  32. ^ "Curkovic backs Divac bid". Blic. 2009-02-13.
  33. ^ "DSS: Da li je Divac pokušao da spreči ulazak Kosova u MOK" (in Serbian). Radio Television of Vojvodina. 2014-12-14.
  34. ^ Karolos Grohmann (December 10, 2014). "Kosovo earns Olympic recognition, Serbia furious". Reuters.
  35. ^ Adi Joseph (2015-03-03). "Kings hire Vlade Divac as vice president, adviser". USA Today Sports.
  36. ^ Marc Stein (2016-03-30). "Kings extend contract of VP Vlade Divac". ESPN.com.
  37. ^ Chris Mercer (2004-12-03). "Knjaz Milos auction descends into chaos". CEE-foodindustry.com. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  38. ^ Chris Mercer (2004-12-08). "Danone pulls out of Serbian soft drink bidding race". CEE-foodindustry.com. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  39. ^ Vera Didanović (2006-01-03). "Država preigrala Divca". nuns.org. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  40. ^ Georgi Mitev-Shantek (2006-07-06). "NBA ace Vlade Divac slam dunks the Serbian government". Southeast European Times. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  41. ^ Lj. Malešević (2006-07-21). "Vukčević: Dijaspora će zapamtiti kako je prošao Divac" (in Serbian). Dnevnik (Novi Sad). Retrieved 2007-09-25. [dead link‍]
  42. ^ "'You are insulting me while you have debts'". Blic. 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  43. ^ "Government to intervene in Voda Voda feud". B92. 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  44. ^ "About us". Divac's Children Foundation. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  45. ^ a b "Divac Creates New Team With "You Can Too" Campaign". NBA.com. 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  46. ^ "Divac za 7.850 izbeglica" (in Serbian). B92. 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  47. ^ "Spektakularni oproštaj Divca" (in Serbian). B92. 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  48. ^ "Deca Loših Muzičara pevaju za Divca!". Kurir. 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  49. ^ "1990 - Schick - Vlade Divac, A.C. Green, Mychal Thompson". YouTube. 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2013-01-24.

Notes

  1. ^ The NBA did not record blocked shots before the 1973–74 season, so earlier players such as Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain probably had similar career achievements.

Further reading

  • Đorđević, Ivan (2007). "Владе Дивац – недовршена транзициона бајка" (Document). doi:10.2298/GEI0701061D. {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |issue= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |journal= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |volume= ignored (help) Template:Sr icon
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