75 Best Basketball Quotes That Will Inspire You

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Basketball Quotes: Basketball is considered one of the most popular sports in the world. Especially this game is very popular in developed countries like America, Canada, Spain, Australia, and Japan.

Similarly, there are many great basketball players around the world, who gained worldwide popularity due to their tremendous game and inspired millions of people.

Here’s a list of the 100 best basketball quotes, If you are a basketball fan, then you will definitely like these quotes and will inspire you.

Table of Contents

Famous Basketball Quotes

1. “Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate Slide7from his habits, you’ve got him” – Bill Russell

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

3. “I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed.“- Lebron James

4. “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

5. “Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory” – Bill Russell

6. “Winning is like deodorant – it comes up and a lot of things don’t stink.”- Doc Rivers

7. “The biggest thing is just routine. I think that’s the biggest correlation between golfers and basketball players.”- Steph Curry

8. “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.

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

10. “Shooting percentage is just as much about decision making as it is about technique”– Jeff Van Gundy

Best Basketball Quotes

11. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
― Phil Jackson

12. “To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.”
― Michael Jordan

13. “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”
― John Wooden

14. “Nervous means you want to play. Scared means you don’t want to play.”
― Sherman Alexie

15. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 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

16. “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”- Michael Jordan

17. “Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.”— Magic Johnson

18. “Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute.”– Bill Russell

19. “You have to earn your right to win the game with effort and togetherness” – Brad Stevens

20. “Michael Jordan may have been the best basketball player in history, but he couldn’t have won six NBA titles without a team.” – Mark E. Hyman

Motivational Basketball Quotes

21. “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”- Kevin Durant

22. “I’ve never lost a game, I just ran out of time.”― Michael Jordan

23. “Every memory I had growing up was involving a basketball. I didn’t go to the prom and stuff like that. It was always basketball for me.”― Kevin Durant.

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

25. “What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player” – John Wooden

Read More: 50 Best Will Smith Quotes

26. “A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”-Larry Bird

27. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.”- Michael Jordan

28. “I gave everything I had to basketball. The passion is still there, but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.”- Allen Iverson

29. “Teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one.”— Mike Krzyzewski

30. “Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.”- Shaquille O’Neal

Inspirational Basketball Quotes

31. “The most important thing to me is the friends that I’ve made” – Bill Russell

32. “Basketball is a team game. But that doesn’t mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.” – Dean Smith

33. “Some say you have to use your five best players, but I found out you win with the five that fit together best as a team.” – Red Auerbach

34. “Champions never complain, they are too busy getting better.”― John Wooden.

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

36. “The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.”― Kobe Bryant.

37. “Leadership is diving for a loose ball. It’s about being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way your going to get respect from other players”- Larry Bird

38. “One player’s selfish attitude can poison the locker room and make it hard, if not impossible, to establish teamwork” – Dean Smith

39. “When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense to prove something as a basketball player, it’s time for me to move away from the game.” – Michael Jordan

40. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”-Michael Jordan

Basketball Quotes

41. “When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort–it is ready to climb“-Pat Riley

42. “Everything negative — pressure, challenges — are all an opportunity for me to rise.”— Kobe Bryant

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

44. “Winners are not people who do not fail, but people who never quit“-Anonymous

45. “All the successful teams I’ve ever seen have three characteristics: They play unselfish, they play together, and they play hard.“-Larry Brown

46. “I don’t complain about playing time. My job is to play so well that my coach can’t sit me.” – Shane Battier

47. “I treated it like every day was my last day with a basketball.” – LeBron James

48. “Once you are labeled the best you want to stay up there, and you can’t do it by loafing around. If I don’t keep changing, I’m history.” – Larry Bird

49. “If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!”— Charles Barkley

50. “Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” – Larry Bird

Basketball quotes for players

51. “You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

52. “Winning is about having the whole team on the same page.”― Bill Walton.

53. “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.

54. “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.

55. “In order to achieve positive results, one must work for them, not hope for them.”― Bob Knight.

56. “I always laugh when people ask me about rebounding techniques. I’ve got a technique. It’s called just go get ball.”― Charles Barkley.

57. “Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God’s way to say nobody’s perfect.”― Shaquille O’Neal.

58. “As a professional athlete a lot is going to be said about you – but I just try to move forward and try to achieve my goals.”― LeBron James

59. “Don’t let winning make you soft. Don’t let losing make you quit. Don’t let your teammates down in any situation.”― Larry Bird.

60. “Every time I feel tired while I am exercising and training, I close my eyes to see that picture, to see that list with my name. This usually motivates me to work again.”― Michael Jordan.

Short basketball quotes

61. “Young men need more models, not critics”– John Wooden

62. “Nothing is given. Everything is earned.”- LeBron James

63. “What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.”- Dean Smith

64. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”- Michael Jordan

65. “You don’t play against opponents; you play against the game of basketball” – Bob Knight

66. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”- Michael Jordan

67. “Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.”― Scottie Pippen.

68. “When you’re not practicing, someone else is getting better.”— Allen Iverson.

69. “Winning is more related to good defense than good offense.”― Dr. Jack Ramsay.

70. “The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy.”― Jerry Tarkanian.

Basketball Quotes for girls

71. “With the absence of pressure, it’s hard to do great things.”― Geno Auriemma.

72. “Evaluate wins and losses objectively, focusing more on effort and execution than on the outcome of the game.”― Morgan Wootten.

73. “Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.”― Jim Valvano.

74. “Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved.”― Bill Russell.

75. “Bottom line – if you want success of any kind; you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”― Tim Grover.