page_title: Vlade Divac
section_title: National team career
hierarchical_section_title: Vlade Divac / National team career
caption_attribution_description: English: Vlade Divac (#12) and Drazen Petrovic with the Yugoslavia national team during the 1990 FIBA World Cup held in Argentina.
context_page_description: Vlade Divac is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association.
  Divac spent most of his playing career in the 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. 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. 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. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
  Divac is a humanitarian, helping children in his native country of Serbia and in Africa.
context_section_description: 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 the Soviet Union. Forty-five seconds before the end, Yugoslavia had a comfortable lead of 9 points, but the 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.
  The next year, Divac participated in the team that took the gold at the 1987 FIBA Junior World Championship (which was later split into separate under-19 and under-21 events) in Bormio, Italy. That event launched the young generation of Yugoslavian basketball players, 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, where they were led by Dražen Petrović, as well as the EuroBasket 1991 title, with Aleksandar Đorđević at point guard.
  When Yugoslavia won the gold in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, fans rushed onto 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.
  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. When FR Yugoslavia won the gold medal at the 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.
caption: Divac with Dražen Petrović in the 1990 FIBA World Championship held in Argentina.
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