Former NBA star and executive Vlade Divac is in stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery Friday following a serious motorcycle accident in Montenegro, according to the Associated Press. Doctors said Divac, 57, was traveling along the Montenegrin Adriatic Sea coast before the accident resulted in a hip fracture and immediate medical aid.
Ljubica Mitrovic, a spokeswoman of the hospital in the town of Risan, told the AP a “surgical procedure was performed” and Divac was “under a careful supervision of the medical staff.”
Divac stepped down as the Sacremento Kings’ general manager in 2020 following the franchise’s 14th consecutive season without a playoff berth. That came one year after he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, where he thanked NBA legend Jerry West and others for the impact they had on his career.
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Divac, who won two Olympic silver medals and a pair of FIBA World Cups for Yugoslavia, played 16 seasons in the NBA prior to his retirement after the 2004-05 season. Divac played with Charlotte, Sacramento and the Los Angeles Lakers as a low-post threat and skilled passer as a 7-footer.
According to CBS Sports’ research team, Divac is the first foreign-born and foreign-trained player ever to play more than 1,000 NBA games, and is one of only seven players in league history record more than 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocks.
Before becoming an NBA All-Star, Divac was traded on draft night from the Lakers to the Hornets for then-high school phenom Kobe Bryant. Divac’s Kings and Bryant’s Lakers often battled in the playoffs during the early 2000s in the Western Conference before eventually becoming teammates in the later stages of Divac’s career.
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