Vlade Divac

At 56 years old, Vlade Divac has this physical status:

Professional career

For the team KK Elan's hometown Prijepolje, Divac began playing basketball. He started his playing career in Yugoslavia with Sloga from Kraljevo and was praised for scoring 27 points against Crvena zvezda right away.

Divac was the best player of the basketball transfer season in 1986, and he ended up signing with KK Partizan for DM14,000.

Partizan had a "dream team" in the Yugoslav First League's 1986-87 season, with players such as Divac, Aleksandar obnevi, eljko Obradovi, and coach Duko Vujoevi at the helm. The club failed to qualify in the EuroLeague's second season (1987-88), after losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semifinal in Ghent. Jugoplastika, with Dino Raa and Toni Kuko, was a better team in the ensuing three years, reigning both in Yugoslavia and Europe.

Despite his height, Divac had a strong sense of movement, had great touch of the ball, and was a good shooter. He may also act as a play maker on occasion. While facing the complete opposite direction, his trademark moves included a mid-range shot at the top of the key and flip shots around the rim. His eccentric moves complemented how he loved playing gags on the court: in the 1989 EuroBasket, he praised teammate Zoran Radovi for a slam dunk. After Arvydas Sabonis, he became Europe's most in-demand big man in just four years.

Divac, who was drafted into the NBA by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989, became one of the first European players to have a presence in the sport. He improved his game and adapted to the American style of basketball under the guidance of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Despite the fact that he spoke no English, he quickly became well-known among his peers and the general public for his charisma and joviality. He was chosen into the NBA All-Rookie Team in the 1989-1990 season.

Divac gained a reputation for fumbling or deceiving officials into calling a foul on the other team by purposefully falling to the ground when speaking with an opposing player. P.J., a veteran NBA forward. Divac may have been the best at flopping at the time, according to Brown. Divac openly confessed to doing so, adding that he did it because the authorities had missed some calls and owed him. However, Divac, who was among the NBA's first anti-flopping penalties in 2012, expressed support for such policies, saying that players after him were "overdo[ing] it" with respect to flopping. Ian Thomsen, a Sports Illustrated columnist, rated Divac as the players who "made [flopping] popular" in a manner analogous to diving in FIBA games.

Divac was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Kobe Bryant's draft rights. Divac began considering retirement after being traded to the Hornets, and flourished in Charlotte's system. In a 113-100 victory over the New Jersey Nets on February 12, 1997, Divac scored 18 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, and finished with a career high 12 blocks. Divac, alongside Glen Rice, Anthony Mason, and Muggsy Bogues, helped the Hornets win their first four regular season victories this season. In a first round loss to the New York Knicks, Divac averaged 18 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game.

The Hornets defeated their division rival Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 1998 NBA playoffs before losing to the defending champion Chicago Bulls in the conference semifinals.

Divac played 2 games for Partizan's eternal rival KK Crvena zvezda in the 1998–99 EuroLeague season.

On Orthodox Christmas Eve, he made his crveno-beli debut against a heavily favoured algiris team led by Tyus Edney, Mindaugas, Saulius tombergas, and Ji Zdek Jr. Crvena zvezda won by a 77-69 dramatic upset victory, aided by a raucous home crowd and energized by Divac's arrival, as well as his 16 points and 8 rebounds.

Divac's brief stay with Crvena zvezda, for which he allegedly received US$250,000 per game, became a sore point for the KK Partizan fans, who unfurled a banner calling him a traitor at their club's next game.

When Divac returned to KK Partizan as the club president, the topic of playing for the despised cross-town rival reignited several years ago. He said at the time that his decision to play for Crvena zvezda was "a mistake."

Divac signed a six-year, $62.5 million contract with the Sacramento Kings on January 22, 1999, where he competed for six seasons with fellow countryman Peja Stojakovi. Divac, along with Stojakovi, Hedo Türkolu, Chris Webber, and Mike Bibby, resurrecting the Sacramento Kings franchise. The Kings climbed to the top of the NBA rankings, becoming a perennial playoff contender and then a championship contender, winning the league in 2001-02. The Kings, on the other hand, were unable to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat them violently in a 7-game series in 2002, which has since been described by some as the "bigest tragedy in sports history."

Divac became a free agent after the 2003–04 NBA season. He signed a two-year deal with the Lakers on July 20, 2004, as part of Mitch Kupchak's effort to resurrect Laker basketball. Following a loss in the NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers, including Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Derek Fisher, and others, had traded away or released most of their players; Divac was supposed to help fill the void.

However, Divac had back problems and could not complete the season, and he could only average 2.3 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game in 15 games, averaging 2.3 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game in 15 games, including 8 games in the first month of the season.

On July 14, 2005, the 37-year-old Divac announced his retirement, effectively ending his 16-year NBA and 22-year professional basketball careers. Divac accepted a position with the Lakers as a European liaison to assist with scouting around the world.

No. 2 on the Kings has been renamed Divac's No. On March 31, 2009, 21 jersey was unveiled in a brunch. Divac made more money in 16 years as a player in the NBA. In September 2009, he competed for the "NBA Generations" team in the 2009 NBA Asia Challenge, a series of exhibitions against Korean Basketball League and Philippine Basketball Association players.

National team career

Divac debuted for the senior Yugoslavia national basketball team at the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Madrid, right after signing for KK Partizan. Founder Kreimir osi urged him. However, the good rookie's results were marred by the event in the semi-finals against the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia had a comfortable lead of nine points going into the end, but the Soviets had two three-pointers within a few seconds and reduced the deficit to three points. Following fouls, Yugoslavia tried to hold the ball for the remainder of the game, but the Soviets were given the ball with a double dribble and tied the score with another three-pointer. The Soviets won by a single point in overtime, while Yugoslavs had to be content with the bronze medal.

In Bormio, Italy, Divac will be involved in the team that captured the gold at the 1987 FIBA Junior World Championship (which was later divided into separate under-19 and under-21 events). That festival brought together a new generation of Yugoslav basketball players, as well as actors like Ra'a and Kuko, who are undoubtedly the best in history. They will also take the titles at EuroBasket 1989 and the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Argentina, where they were accompanied by Dr. Enriquevi, as well as the EuroBasket 1991 title, with Aleksandar orevi as point guard before the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Fans poured into the court when Yugoslavia claimed gold in the 1990 FIBA World Championship. One of the six republics that made up Yugoslavia, Croatian flags was on display. Since Yugoslavia gained control, Divac says he told the guy that he shouldn't be waving the flag. Divac claims that the man made a derogatory comment about the Yugoslav flag, at which point Divac took his flag from him. This occurred at a time when nationalistic pride was threatening to destabilize Yugoslavia and spark a war. The veto made Divac a hero to Serbs and a murderer to Croatians thanks to his taking the flag. Divac has stated that he did not mean it as an act against Croatia, and that if a Serb fan had done the same, he would have taken down a Serbian flag.

Many of his former Croatian friends, including Dr. En Petrovi, who said he was his closest friend, were alienated by this action, as well as the Yugoslav Wars. When FR Yugoslavia won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1995 and Croatia won bronze, Croatia defeated bronze, Croatia defeated Slovenia, Croatia remained in war with Serbs from Croatia – walked off the podium during the medal presentation. The teams had never met together in the tournament before.

Divac was a member of the 2002 FIBA World Cup in Indianapolis, defeating Argentina in the final and the United States later on.

Administrative career

Divac, from the start of his playing career and afterwards, concentrated on three domains: humanitarian work, sport administration, and investment.

Divac and former teammate Predrag Danilovi took over KK Partizan in late 2000, following the overthrowrow of Slobodan Miloevi whose policies Divac had been openly critical of throughout the mid-to-late 1990s. They did so on initiative initiated by Ivica Dai, the club's outgoing president and, more importantly, a newly marginalized politician who was forced to leave his position at Miloevi due to his links to Miloevi. Dancing that various state-owned businesses and community assets were being taken over in a questionable manner during the regime change, Dai saw it prudent to bring the club's two former greats as a safeguard against the same happening to KK Partizan. Divac took over the club's president, while Danilovi took over the vice presidency role.

Danilovi, who had recently retired from playing, was actually managing the club's day-to-day operations when Divac was still very involved with the Sacramento Kings at the time. Darko Russo, the head coach they inherited, finished out the 2000–01 season before deciding in summer 2001 to bring back their mentor, Duko Vujoevi to be the next head coach.

Despite the fact that the pair never stated outright, their additional motivation in joining KK Partizan was seen as increasing the likelihood of the club's privatization process when the Serbian parliament's new Law on Sports was passed. Since the exact ownership structure of a publicly owned KK Partizan was unclear and currently isn't clear, potential investors decided to avoid investing until the legislation came into force. Divac and Danilovi appeared to be somewhat out of nowhere in this regard, but the majority of fans and public help in this regard were more interested in seeing their beloved club owned and operated by its former employees than a faceless corporation or a group of politicians, managers, or businessmen near the ruling coalition. However, after a few years as a result of a few years, the pair eventually became out of patience and pulled out of the venture in late 2004 because it became too much of a financial burden with no end in sight. Although he no longer served as a director at the club, Divac continued to participate in a lesser capacity for a few years after.

Divac was hired as the Lakers' European scout in October 2005, right after completing his playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and began reporting directly to team general manager Mitch Kupchak. He took over the position in 2006.

Divac, who met with Predrag Mijatovia in June 2006, became a mentor to Ramón Calderón as part of the lawyer's bid for president of Real Madrid. Divac was named as the head of operations at Real Madrid basketball club in July 2, 2006, but the scope of his employment soon changed to consulting positions as president Calderón's assistant basketball and team's international coordinator when Calderón narrowly defeated the club elections on July 2, 2006.

However, Divac's involvement in the club's day-to-day activities was largely symbolic, and he even admitted as much in a March 2007 interview with Croatian weekly Globus: "I literally do nothing and I only serve as part of the royal club's image." I only accepted the position because of Mijatovi, who is now the Real's football manager. Divac stepped down from the post by the end of 2007, following a financial agreement between the two sides, but the former minister of the Czech Republic had reportedly been receiving an annual salary of €300,000.

Ivica Dava Dai, the Serbian Prime Minister and humanitarian advisor, was the subject of Divac's political consultancy work in October 2008.

In 2000, Divac was named Yugoslavia's nominee for the International Olympic Committee's Sport Commission in spring 2000. Miloevi's regime put this candidate under pressure. Divac ran for president of Serbia against incumbent President Ivan urkovi in February 2009. He dominated the election after Urkovi drew just before the scheduled voting. He was re-elected sole candidate in November 2012, and his second mandate comes with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Kosovo was accepted as a full member of the International Olympic Committee in December 2014. The Serbian Olympic Committee and Divac have been chastised for failing to take any action to prevent this. Divac said he was not happy with the IOC's decision but that he might not have prevented it because it had already been confirmed, and that he would accept it "in the interest of the athletes."

On May 9, 2017, Serbian former basketball coach Boidar Maljkovi took over the position of president of Serbia's Olympic Committee.

The Sacramento Kings recruited Divac as their vice president of basketball and franchise relations in early March 2015. Vivek Ranadivé, the company's founder, was brought into the organisation late in the summer following head coach Mike Malone's departure and the eventual recruitment of George Karl. Divac's first duties with the Kings were reported to include advising the front office and coaches as well as assisting with branding and fan outreach. However, such broadly defined work responsibilities led to media rumors about Divac's position within the company, which includes assistant GM Mike Bratz, senior advisor to player relations and analytics Dean Oliver, assistant to the chairman Chris Mullin, and head coach Karl, who has always wanted to be involved in personnel issues. "Despite the Kings not yet announcing their new power structure, Divac is already considered the team's top basketball official by owner Ranadivé within a month."

General manager D'Alessandro left the Kings on June 10, 2015, two weeks before the NBA draft, accepting a front-office job with the Denver Nuggets, despite rumors that he did so due to being out of his decision-making authority after Ranadivé recruited Divac.

Only days before the draft, Karl and the team's star center DeMarcus Cousins reignited, as Karl reportedly lobbied Divac, as well as several others on the Kings' roster, to tell owner Ranadive that Cousins must be released. As a result, Divac reportedly addressed several Cousin trade scenarios with various teams against Cousins' calling Karl a "snake" on Twitter, but no agreement was reached, and Cousins dismissed him as a result. Willie Cauley-Stein, a 21-year-old center, was selected by the Kings in the 2015 NBA draft with the 6th pick. The Kings' final effort at getting University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari to replace Karl was unsuccessful less than a week after the draft, with the dissolution of the Karl–Cousins friendship on public display.

The Kings decided to a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers in an attempt to free up salary cap space in order to move immediately after free agents, giving Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, and Jason Thompson, along with the opportunity to trade first round picks from 2016 and 2017, as well as the right to exchange first round picks in 2016, and 2017 to Sixers overseas players Arthras Gudaitis and Luka Mitrovii. Two days later, they revealed the signings of two free agents: 29-year-old Marco Belinelli on a three-year US$19 million contract and 29-year-old Rajon Rondo for one year, totaling US$10 million. After his role as the backup for Cousins, twenty-six-year-old center Kosta Koufos for four years and US$33 million was followed by his signing.

Divac, who had free agent signings completed, shifted his attention to mend fences between the team's head coach Karl and the team's center Cousins ahead of the 2015-16 season, revealing openly on CBS Sports Radio's The Jim Rome Show that the two "isn't exactly right now." As Karl approached and Cousins reluctantly took the coach's hand before turning away a few days later, during a 2015 NBA Summer League match in Las Vegas, the two laughed an uncomfortable on-camera handshake. Cousins and Karl were summoned by Divac to a private counseling session later this week.

On August 31, 2015, Divac was promoted to the Kings' vice president of basketball operations and general manager.

Following a memorable and event-filled season that saw the team briefly reach the final playoff position in the Western Conference before the team's streak began in late January and early February 2016, Divac reportedly made the decision to fire George Karl during the forthcoming All-Star break. However, Karl was retained after a quick meeting with Divac and reportedly promising to make changes to address internal questions regarding his defense policies and practice guidelines. The Kings minority owners stymied Karl on this occasion due to financial difficulties, which was later reported. Divac also signed a multi-year contract extension with the company a month and a half later in late March 2016. The team finished the season 33-49, eight games out of the playoffs, good for their 10th position in the Western Conference. The team's last season in Sleep Train Arena, the team's home since 1988, was also their first 30 plus win season in the team's first season after seven seasons of fewer than 30 wins.

The Kings organization's head coach Karl was fired early in the team's offseason in mid-April 2016, a decision taken by Divac who had apparently been calling for it for months. The Kings recruited Dave Joerger as their head coach within three weeks, during which Divac interviewed head coaching candidates Sam Mitchell, Vinny Del Negro, David Blatt, Mark Jackson, Mark Jackson, Jeff Hornacek, Nate McMillan, Patrick Ewing, Elston Turner, and Corliss Williamson, the Kings recruited him as their new head coach, worth US$16 million. The Kings selected Marquese Chriss out of Washington with the 8th pick, but the Suns and the Suns cut him for the rights to Bogdan Bogdanovia, Peter Bogdanovi, as well as the Suns' 2016 draft 13th and 28th picks.

The Kings selected De'Aaron Fox from Kentucky out of Kentucky at the 2017 NBA draft, with the 5th pick. The Kings selected Marvin Bagley III with the second overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft, putting him over for MVP candidate Scott Donohue, who will enter his NBA career within two years. The Sacramento Kings finished ninth in the Western conference in 2018-2019. However, the Kings' season was not fruitful.

The 2019–20 NBA season was postponed in March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Sacramento Kings were invited to the 22-team NBA Bubble in 2020. The Kings did not qualify for the playoffs, their 14th season without a playoff appearance, however, and ended the season with a 31–41 record. Divac resigned as the general manager on August 14, 2020, just shy of being released as a short time later.

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