NBA Hall of Famer Vlade Divac is recovering in a Montenegrin hospital after a frightening motorcycle accident that left the former Kings and Lakers big man with a broken hip and unable to stand.
The 57-year-old needed emergency surgery to have an artificial hip implanted on Friday after crashing near the Adriatic Sea coast, according to the Associated Press.
“During the day, a surgical procedure was performed. He is in a stable general and physical condition and is under a careful supervision of the medical staff,” said Ljubica Mitrovic, a spokeswoman for the hospital in the coastal town of Risan.
Divac is currently immobile following the incident, which took place on Thursday, reported Serbia’s Informer. Details on the cause of the accident have not been released.
Divac made history in the NBA as one of the league’s first prominent European imports, arriving in Los Angeles in 1989 and quickly earning All-Rookie honors with the Lakers. Standing seven-foot-one, he went on to play over one thousand games across 16 seasons with the Lakers, Hornets, and Kings, becoming the first player born and trained outside the United States to reach that milestone.
His jersey, number twenty-one, was retired by the Kings in 2009. A decade later, he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
After his playing days ended in 2005, Divac began a new chapter in the NBA as a scout for the Lakers before joining Sacramento’s front office. In 2015, he was named general manager of the Kings, a position he held until stepping down in 2020.
He was last seen courtside in 2017, watching his Kings warm up from the bench during a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets.
The basketball world is rallying around one of its true pioneers as he begins the long road to recovery.
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