Serbian NBA star Vlade Divac nominated for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame – NBA News
If anyone deserves to be inducted into the NBA hall of fame, it is Serbia’s beloved basketball star Vlade Divac.
The only player in the history of NBA to be born outside US and play more than thousand games, Divac is not only a basketball superstar but a humble human being too.
For his humanitarian efforts in his native country and Africa after the retirement, Divac was assigned as a Serbian government counselor for humanitarian affairs in 2008.
The very next year, because of his outstanding contributions to the game, he was appointed as the president of Serbian Olympic Committee and just last year, he was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
After three years of massive achievements, Vlade is all destined to make it four in four years as just a day ago; he was nominated for Naismith Memorial hall of fame, which he probably will go on to win.
He is without a doubt, one of the best centers in the history of NBA and representing Los Angeles Lakers for 8 years, he gave everything he had to the team, playing a pivotal role in the team’s most memorable triumphs.
Despite the fact he was a foreigner, everyone in Los Angeles adored him because of his game, personality and his extracurricular activities such as appearances in a sitcoms, commercials and late night shows.
A consistent double-double threat at his peak, he finished his career with an average of 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds and led the Lakers to 1991 NBA finals. He was later traded to Charlotte Hornets in a famous exchange that earned
Lakers Kobe Bryant and led to the start of Shaquille O’ Neal and Kobe Bryant era.
His stay in Charlotte was a short one and was later traded to Sacramento Kings, where he along with his Serbian fellow team mate Predrag Stojakovic took Sacramento to new heights in the next few years.
He stayed with the Kings for six seasons, but in 2003, he again decided to move back to the Lakers. However, he was in his twilight by then and couldn’t repeat the heroics because of the back injuries that forced him to miss few
games. He eventually bid adieu to NBA in 2005.
Vlade Divac is a name that symbolizes excellence. He is one of the greatest foreign players to have graced the NBA and if he does not deserves to be inducted in the Hall, nobody does.
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