80 Famous Basketball Quotes Will Make You Inspire

Here is the finest collection of the most famous basketball quotes to inspire you to play as famous basketball players, and their wisdom versed here.

Famous Basketball Quotes

1) “When you are not practicing, someone else is getting better.” – Allen Iverson

2) “When your legs gets tired, run with your heart.”

3) “If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.”

4) “If you don’t fall how are going to know what getting up is like.” – Stephen Curry

5) “It is your response to winning and losing that makes you a winner or a loser.” – Harry Sheehy

6) “Basketball isn’t just a sport. It is an art, one that must be mastered to succeed.” – Stephen Curry

7) “Eyes forward. Mind focused. Heart ready. Game on, world.”

8) “Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan

9) “The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play ‘Drop the Handkerchief.’” — James Naismith

10) “There is no such thing as a perfect basketball player, and I don’t believe there is only one greatest player either.” — Michael Jordan

11) “I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.” — Michael Jordan

12) “Basketball is a lifelong game. You continue to learn from the game day in and day out, and all along the way, you get better.” — Scottie Pippen

13) “There is a lot of basketball beyond our control, but a player should never let anyone try harder than he does.” – Dean Smith

14) “Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.” – Dean Smith

15) “But that’s the thing about basketball: you don’t play games on paper.” – Bill Simmons

16) “Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you’ve got him.” – Bill Russell

17) “If every basketball player worked as hard as I did, I’d be out of a job.” – Steve Nash

18) “The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I’m out there, no one can bother me…” – Michael Jordan

19) “As a leader, your job is to do everything in your power to create the perfect conditions for success by benching your ego and inspiring your team to play the game the right way. But at some point, you need to let go and turn yourself over to the basketball gods. The soul of success is surrendering to what is.” – Phil Jackson

20) “I always wanted to be a basketball player. Nothing more, nothing less.” – Dirk Nowitzki

21) “A lot of late nights in the gym, a lot of early mornings, especially when your friends are going out, you’re going to the gym, those are the sacrifices that you have to make if you want to be an NBA basketball player.” – Jason Kidd

22) “Keep calm and make the free throws.”

23) “The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each and other and sacrifice personal glory for the common goal.” – Dave DeBusschere

24) “My brain… It cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I sit there and have to face myself and tell myself, ‘You’re a failure’… I think that’s almost worse than death.” – Kobe Bryant

25) “What to do with a mistake:

1. Recognize it.

2. Admit it.

3. Learn from it.

4. Forget it.”

– Dean Smith

26) “You can’t control the minutes you play, but you can control how you play the minutes you get.”

27) “I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results.” – Michael Jordhan

28) “The task ahead of you is never as great as the strength with you.”

29) “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life… That’s why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

W 30) “The magic in life is finding what it is that you love… When you find that thing that you love then life makes sense… For me it was basketball.” – Kobe Bryant

31) “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

32) “If you do not believe in yourself, no one will do it for you.” – Kobe Bryant

33) “Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons.” – Denzel Washington

34) “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”

36) “A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.” – John Wooden

37) “I’ve never been afraid of big moments. I get butterflies.. I get nervous and anxious, but I think those are all good signs that I’m ready for the moment.” – Stephen Curry

38) “Practice like you’ve never won.

Perform like you’ve never lost.”

39) “Haters are good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.” – Kobe Bryant

40) “The more you sweat in practice the less you bleed in battle!” – Michael Jordan

41) “The expert in anything was once a beginner.”

42) “Your lack of dedication is an insult to those who believe in you.”

43) “The task ahead of you is never as great as the strength within you.”

44) “Stay low, Go fast, Kill first, Die last, One shot, One kill, No luck, All skill.”

45) “Be the player their coach warned them about.”

46) “You have to not only love the game; you have to love the training. The practice and the competing. You have to love everything about it.” – Maya Moore

47) “You must tell yourself, ‘no matter how hard it is, or how hard it gets, I’m going to make it.” – Les Brown

48) “Some people believe you win with your five best players, but I found out that you win with the five who fit together best.”

49) “The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.” – Bill Russell

50) “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” – Kevin Durant

51) “A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together. You have a fist that’s how I want you to play!”  – Mike Krzyzewski

52) “The game of basketball is a game of accepting failure; of accepting imperfection; of realizing that the perfect game has never been played, never will be played, or ever could be played.” — Tony Alfonso

53) “What to do with a mistake – recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” – Dean Smith

54) “When you miss a shot, never think of what you did wrong. Take the next shot thinking of what you must do right.” – Tony Alfonso

55) “Blending the talents of your team members is crucial to basketball success.” – John Kundla

56) “Basketball is a game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven’t got what it takes. It never takes away the chance, and it never eases up on the pressure.” — Bob Sundvold

57) “Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game…about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of the players that result in team building.” — Dean Smith

58) “The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play” – Bill Russell

59) “The key is not the ‘will to win’… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important” – Bob Knight

60) “The goal is to make practice more difficult, physically/mentally, than anything your players will face during a game” – Bob Knight

61) “The difference between a good defensive team and a bad defensive team is as little as three possessions” – Brad Stevens

62) “There is a lot of basketball beyond our control, but a player should never let anyone try harder than he does” – Dean Smith

63) “Sometimes you will hate me because I will tell you the truth about your game. And the truth can hurt/humble you” – Doc Rivers

67) “Simplify the game as much as possible. When you add, you must subtract” – Don Meyer

68) “My philosophy of defense is to keep the pressure on an opponent until you get to his emotions” – John Wooden

69) “A coach must never forget that he is a leader and not merely a person with authority” – John Wooden

70) “You discipline those under your supervision to correct, to help, and to improve. Not to punish” – John Wooden

71) “When you’re a coach you’ve got to go up the ladder, you’ve got to be ready to travel. That’s the nature of coaching” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

72) “Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

73) “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team” – Kareem Abdul Jabbar

74) “It takes three things to be a ‘special’ player: talent, character, and competitive fire” – Kevin Eastman

75) “Coaching is making players do what they don’t want to do so they can become the player they want to become” – Kevin Eastman

76) “Coaches can talk and talk and talk about something, but if you get it on tape and show it to them, it is so much more effective” – Larry Bird

77) “Failure does not come from losing, but from not trying” – Larry Brown

78) “All the successful teams I’ve ever seen have 3 characteristics: They play unselfish, they play together, and they play hard” – Larry Brown

79) “These require zero talent:

1) Being at practice before time.

2) Work ethic.

3) Effort.

4) Body language.

5) Energy.

6) Attitude.

7) Passion.

8) Being coachable.

9) Doing extra.

10) Being Prepared.”

80) “You can’t stop someone who knows where they’re going.”