Mike Bibby, during his recent appearance on All the Smoke, spoke about a range of topics related to the early 2000s’ Sacramento Kings team that made multiple impressive Playoff runs. Led by the likes of Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, and Bibby himself, the Kings were especially impressive in the 2001-02 season, when they finished 1st in the Western Conference but lost out 4-3 in the Conference Finals against the Lakers.
Advertisement
Bibby, talking about the leaders on the team, also chose to speak about the Kings’ Serbian Center, Vlade Divac. Talking about his leadership qualities, Bibby claimed that Divac had a unique way of being calm and composed. However, Bibby’s story about the 2001 All-Star started with an incredible confession about his smoking cigarettes.
Asked whether 7 ft 1” giant smoked cigarettes by Matt Barnes, Bibby responded with a resounding yes and went on to reveal that he had seen Divac smoke before matches as well.
“I think Vlade was the ringleader, I seen him before a game, the bathroom stall is this high, his head over the top. So I go use the bathroom, he’s in there like, ‘Are you smoking a f***ing cigarette? Just got it done real quick, put it out, and went to warm up,” Bibby revealed.
However, Mike then talked about how Vlade was still the ringleader for the Sacramento Kings back then. He claimed that apart from an ability to keep things calm and composed, Divac also never changed his demeanor towards his teammates.
“But Vlade was like the ring leader for everything, cool, calm. Of course, Web was the leader of the team, but off the court, Vlade, you never seen demeanor change. Whether he scored 2 points, or you score 30 points, you always get the same Vlade no matter what,” Bibby said.
View this post on Instagram
Hence, while he accepted that it was the free-scoring Chris Webber who was the leader of the team on the court, it was Vlade who would regularly fulfill that role off the court. The Sacramento Kings in the early 2000s, therefore, was not just a result of the right talent and structure coming together. The franchise also had leaders both on and off the court, which all contributed to their success.
Jerry West asked Vlade Divac to continue smoking so the Lakers could draft him
Divac had an adventurous career in the NBA, was an All-Star in 2001, and was part of the All-Rookie first team in 1990. The Serbian was picked 26th overall by the LA Lakers despite being projected to be a 12-20 pick in the 1989 Draft. However, that is where Jerry West stepped in.
He got into touch with Duvac and asked him to simply continue smoking. The result was that the then-21-year-old made multiple public appearances while smoking cigarettes, according to Legends.
He was seen smoking in the Green Room during draft night and even got off the plane while smoking a cigarette when he reached LA. The ploy worked, as the Lakers eventually got him using the 26th pick, and Duvac was then traded in 1996, from where he moved to the Kings, a season later. West traded him to Charlotte to acquire a number 13 pick for the 1996 NBA draft. That was later used to draft a certain Kobe Bryant, which means Duvac played his part in the success of not one, but two major NBA franchises in the early 2000s.
