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As athletes and pro sports franchises, we have the responsibility to use our platform to affect positive change in the community. I take it seriously.
Jerry West really helped a lot, and so did players like Magic Johnson. That's why, at the end of my career, I wanted to finish my career with the Lakers.
When I came to New York for the draft in '89, they told me I should be like 10 and 15, and it didn't happen. So I was very disappointed, like, nobody wants me.
Sacramento and the Kings organization were always in my thoughts and I often dreamed of having a role in helping our amazing fans realize the ultimate NBA prize.
Because I play in NBA, I am like ambassador of Yugoslavia. Los Angeles before, nobody hear of Yugoslavia. Now I think much people who look at basketball hear of Yugoslavia.
I have to give a lot of credit to David Stern to open up the league, but also in my case, Jerry West and Dr. Buss that had the vision of international guys making it to the NBA.
It was my dream for a long time to play in the NBA. When I was drafted, it was a challenge for me. I decided to go and see where I was compared to the best players in the world.
It was a lovely story that I finished my career with Kobe, with somebody who I was traded for. I have a lot of respect for the guy. I think he's definitely, by far, the best talent that I ever, ever played with.
I thought, 'I'm going to play in Yugoslavia, then I'll go to play in Italy or Spain.' Then I'll be 28 or 29 and I'll try NBA. I never thought I can play in NBA because NBA was totally different world for us in Europe.
Well, the league is changing every year. It changed when I came. It changed before me. First of all, we have to be thankful for all those guys in the '60s and '70s. They made this league one of the best sports leagues in the world.
Basketball is like life and life is like basketball. It's just a game. So lets play the best we can while we are still here with love, compassion, selflessness fairplay and supporting each other to be bigger and better human beings.
I'm happy that I helped basketball develop; I was trying to help basketball be the world's most popular sport, to bring people together from all over the world, it doesn't matter the background. We are all the soldiers of basketball.
I had to earn the respect from everybody, from referees to opponents, but my teammates, they saw some European guy coming here and I had to prove myself. Luckily, I proved myself, but with big help from the entire Lakers organization.
Kobe made an impact on basketball in a big way. He came in the League when he was 17 years old, but he was working on his game every day... The way he played, people all around the world loved the passion that he put in for basketball.
I left my home, and it was the most beautiful country in the world in my eyes, and I was always happy in the summertime to go back. And then suddenly, the civil war starts, and you just worry first about your family and friends, and then an entire nation.
The year when I left my country, there was still peace. The year after, the war broke out, a lot of people lost their homes, lost their families. When I go back 20 years later I still find people living in refugee camps. So I tried to help them find homes.
NBA is totally different in style. In NBA, we play much more aggressive, much harder. It's not time for thinking. In Europe, we play every week, one game. Here we play every second day so if you lose, you don't have time to think about losing. Just go forward.
My generation started in big tournaments. '88 Olympics, we got silver. '89 European Championship, we got gold. 1990 World Cup in Argentina, we got gold. '91 European Championship, we got gold, and then there was a civil war, and for three years, we didn't play.
First of all, I would love to see people remember me as a good passer, not as a good flopper. But flopping was, in some period of my career, a part of my game, especially against Shaquille O'Neal. It was the only way I could try to stop him. And I did well, I guess.
In the early '80s there was a big gap between the NBA and the international game and when we started making our careers here in the NBA, obviously, we became better players. When we used to play each other on the international level, that gap became smaller and smaller.
You have so many players all around the world in the NBA, a lot of different generations. If you don't take basketball as a tool in your life, you can get lost. I know a lot of teammates, a lot of players that had a great career and after that career, they just get lost.
I'm a Yugoslavian who loves America - my kids are Americans, you know. They're always going to be half and half because they were born here and, I hope, live here, but they will always have a background of Yugoslavian. I'm still a Serbian, but with an American lifestyle.
Just like in life, when you play basketball, you have to give in order to receive. On the court, you're not only making things move along by giving the ball, but you're also giving your physical and mental strength, your passion, your talent, your trust in your teammates. This way the power can multiply and the whole team wins.
I came here and actually fell in love with Charlotte and the Hornets. That's exactly what happened to me. I found a new way of motivation. Charlotte basically extended my career for the next seven years. I was thinking of retiring. I was 30 and played seven more years after that, just because basketball felt different here in Charlotte.