Basketball Sayings, Quotes and Slogans

The Best Basketball sayings of all time:

If I weren’t earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction if they saw me coming.
~ Charles Barkley

When I dunk, I put something on it. I want the ball to hit the floor before I do.
~ Darryl Dawkins

Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath.
~  Wilt Chamberlain

Many athletes have tremendous God-given gifts, but they don’t focus on the development of those gifts. Who are these individuals? You’ve never heard of them– and you never will. It’s true in sports and it’s true everywhere in life. Hard work is the difference. Very hard work.
~ John Wooden

Most of my learning and philosophy regarding coaching basketball was developed after great frustration.
~ Dick Bennett

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

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

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

This is the second most exciting indoor sport, and the other one shouldn’t have spectators.
~Dick Vertleib

When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.
~ Larry Bird

If you are going to take it to the bank, then you better cash it in.
~Basketball saying by:Shannon Fish

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Basketball Slogans and Sayings

Offense is a variable. defense is a constant

We’re Going To Win. So Coach Doesn’t Lose His Job

Some want it to happen,
Some wish it would happen,
Others make it happen

dedication + motivation = success

Don’t you wish your girlfriend could play basketball like me

Bringing out the best in each other!

Pretty in pink, Vicious in Uniform

On this court the score will be the judge.

Get a life. Play Basketball

Hustle and heart set us apart

Stand tall, talk small, play ball

In our court there are no objections…only rejections

No blood, no foul

Refuse to lose

Defend till the end

Baller for life

Got Game?

Give blood. Play basketball.

Life begins when the season starts.

Im so good your mom cheers for me.

Id rather be playing basketball.

More Great Basketball Quotes and Basketball Sayings

This is the second most exciting indoor sport, and the other one shouldn’t have spectators.

~ Dick Vertleib

Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.
~ James Naismith

Basketball doesn’t build character it reveals it.
~ basketball saying by: Unknown author

I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream.
~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Basketball is like photography, if you don’t focus, all you have is the negative.
~ Basketball saying by: Dan Frisby

The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get.
~Jerry Tarkanian

A tough day at the office is even tougher when your OFFICE contains spectator seating.
~ Nik Posa

As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don’t know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be.
~Kobe Bryant

The rule was “No autopsy, no foul.
~Basketball saying by: Stewart Granger

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 Byrd

And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight – I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub – there were things that I liked about it.
~Julius Erving

And I want to do it the right way, like everybody else, not just a famous figurehead that gets a job because he is a famous basketball player. I want to really learn the business.
~Shaquille O’Neal

Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.
~Larry Byrd

When it’s played the way is spozed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams.
~John Edgar Wideman

Basketball is a team game. But that doesn’t mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.
~Basketball saying by: Dean Smith

I haven’t been able to slam-dunk the basketball for the past five years. Or, for the thirty-eight years before that, either.
~Dave Barry

They said playing basketball would kill me. Well, not playing basketball was killing me.
~Magic Johnson

Basketball is in my blood. It is my obligation to try.
~Hakeem Olajuwon

I look at the NBA as a football game without the helmet.
~Tom Tolbert

When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.
~Larry Byrd

To win, you’ve got to put the ball in the macramé.
~Basketball saying by: Terry McGuire

They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.
~ Wilt Chamberlain

Basketball was not my main sport in grade school, or even the first year of high school.
~Mike Krzyzewski

Basketball, in America, is like a culture. It is like a foreigner learning a new language. It is difficult to learn foreign languages and it will also be difficult for me to learn the culture for basketball here.
~Yao Ming

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

If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball.
~Basketball saying by: Phil Jackson

Nothing there but basketball, a game which won’t be fit for people until they set the basket umbilicus-high and return the giraffes to the zoo.
~Ogden Nash

I always dreamt of being a basketball player. A dream that only I believed in.
~David Duchovny

I always wanted to be a basketball player.
~Ronnie James Dio

What is so fascinating about sitting around watching a bunch of pituitary cases stuff a ball through a hoop?
~Woody Allen

We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors.
~Weldon Drew

Basketball is the MTV of sports.
~Basketball saying by: Sara Levinson

I try to never lose sight of what a special time it is to be a women’s basketball player.
~Sue Wicks

I wanted a NBA basketball gym at my house and that’s what I worked hard for and I was able to achieve that.
~Terrell Owens

The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.
~Bill Russell

I’m not a role model… Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.
~Charles Barkley

I hate it. It looks like a stickup at 7-Eleven. Five guys standing there with their hands in the air.
~Norm Sloan, on zone defense

I’m the basketball version of a gravedigger.
~Dennis Rodman

I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.
~Shaquille O’Neal

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.
~Basketball saying by: John Wooden

I knew I was dog meat. Luckily, I’m the high-priced dog meat that everybody wants. I’m the good-quality dog meat. I’m the Alpo of the NBA.
~ Shaquille O’Neal

Even when I’m old and gray, I won’t be able to play it, but I’ll still love the game
~ Michael Jordan

I’ve tried to handle winning well, so that maybe we’ll win again, but I’ve also tried to handle failure well. If those serve as good examples for teachers and kids, then I hope that would be a contribution I have made to sport. Not just basketball, but to sport.
~Mike Krzyzewski

It doesn’t matter who scores the points, it’s who can get the ball to the scorer.
~ Larry Bird

If all I’m remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I’ve done a bad job with the rest of my life.
~ Isiah Thomas

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.
~Coach Bob Sundvold

If you’re a basketball player, you’ve got to shoot.
~Basketball saying by: Oscar Robertson

If you’re playing basketball with someone who’s better than you, you have to get better or else it’s no fun.
~Jason Behr

Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious.
~ Charles Shackleford

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

Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.
~Red Auerbach

The only important shot you take is the next one. Because no matter how hard you try, that is the only one you can still have an effect on.
~ basketball saying by: Jason Bumblis

It wasn’t until late high school and early college that I gained enough size and skill to make me welcome on intramural basketball teams.
~Paul D. Boyer

It’s not to hurt anyone, but basketball can be rough.
~Sue Wicks

Fans never fall asleep at our games, because they’re afraid they might get hit by a pass.
~George Raveling

The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.
~Charles Barkley

He who controlleth the backboard, controlleth the game.
~Adolph Rupp

Your defense will save you on the nights that your offense isn’t working.
~ Adolph Rupp

When I dunk, I put something on it. I want the ball to hit the floor before I do.
~basketball saying by: Darryl Dawkins

Talent wins games, but team work and intelligence wins championships.
~Michael Jordan

You don’t play against opponents. You play against the game of basketball.
~Bobby Knight

My goals have gone from being an all-star to just being able to play basketball. I always took for granted that I could play. Now I know what a gift it is.
~Rebecca Lobo

My greatest gift that I have in life is basketball.
~Isiah Thomas

When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team.
~George Raveling

We’re shooting 100 percent – 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line.
~Norm Stewart

The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and they sacrifice personal glory for the common goal.
~Dave DeBusschere

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