Basketball isn't just a game; it's a source of inspiration, life lessons, and motivation. Whether you're a player, coach, or fan, these powerful quotes from some of the greatest names in basketball history will ignite your passion and drive you to excel both on and off the court.

If you need help getting locked in, learning from the best is a great place to start. As always, you can view these quotes anytime on your iOS device using our app:

NBA Legends

Michael Jordan

1. "I've missed more than 9,000 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."
2. "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."
3. "You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them."
4. "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."
5. "Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen."
6. "The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals, and you can't let yourself be beaten because of lack of effort."

Kobe Bryant

7. "The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do."
8. "I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come."
9. "If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear."
10. "I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I'm like, 'My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don't have it. I just want to chill.' We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it."
11. "I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses."
12. "I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I want to be the only Kobe Bryant."
13. "The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. That journey continues."
14. "I've shot too much from the time I was eight years old. But 'too much' is a matter of perspective. Some people thought Mozart had too many notes in his compositions. Let me put it this way: I entertain people who say I shoot too much. I find it very interesting. Going back to Mozart, he responded to critics by saying there were neither too many notes or too few. There were as many as necessary."
15. "If you do not believe in yourself, no one will do it for you."
16. "Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever."
17. "The important thing is that your teammates have to know you're pulling for them, and you really want them to be successful."
18. "The moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win."

LeBron James

19. "The only way to succeed is to work hard, stay focused, and never give up."
20. "To be the best, you have to work the hardest. You have to chase what seems impossible over and over and over again, because giving up is not an option, and when you feel like you've reached your limit, it's only the beginning, that's when it's time to dig deep, to find the courage to push some more."

Kevin Durant

21. "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard."

Kawhi Leonard

22. "Don't let small details distract you from your big picture goals."

Stephen Curry

23. "If you don't fall, how are you going to know what getting up is like?"
24. "I want to practice to the point where it's almost uncomfortable how fast you shoot, so that in the game things kind of slow down."
25. "Be the best version of yourself in anything that you do. You don't have to live anybody else's story."
26. "Play like you're in first. Train like you're in second."

Other NBA Stars

27. "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best." - Tim Duncan
28. "Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly." - Shaquille O'Neal
29. "Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team." - Scottie Pippen
30. "If you're afraid of failure, you don't deserve to be successful!" - Charles Barkley
31. "In my day, when a coach criticized you, it was called good coaching. When people criticize players today, it's called hating. And that's why these bums be driving me crazy. Like dude - coaches, their job is to criticize. It ain't criticism. It's coaching." - Charles Barkley
32. "When you're not practicing, someone else is getting better." - Allen Iverson
33. "My whole life, people have doubted me. My mom did. People told me in high school I was too short and not fast enough to play basketball. They didn't know my story. Because if they did, they'd know that anything is possible." - Jimmy Butler
34. "I'm not a God-given talent. I ain't the best shooter. I'm not the best ball handler. Not the most athletic. Not the fastest. But I battle. I fight. I'm tough as shit and I don't back down. There's my talent for you. I ain't scared of nobody." - Jimmy Butler III
35. "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
36. "Your greatest asset should be your work ethic." - Kevin Garnett
37. "Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle." - Christian Laettner
38. "You have a choice to make when you're not playing. Either you're invested and a great teammate, or you're not." - Brad Stevens
39. "Nothing is given. Everything is earned." - LeBron James
40. "If you fail then fail again cuz you can't win if you don't try." - Lonzo Ball
41. "Look good, feel good, play good." - Naz Reid
42. "I'm not lucky, I just didn't quit." - Andre Drummond
43. "If you don't believe, who will..." - Jamal Crawford
44. "The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra." - Cam Thomas
45. "Lay a brick a day and eventually you'll build a house!" - Kyle Kuzma
46. "If you think small, small things happen." - Matas Buzelis
47. "My belief is stronger than your doubt!" - Dwyane Wade
48. "Sometimes it's the people no one imagines anything of who can do things that no one can imagine." - Mac McClung
49. "There is no negotiating hard work." - Pascal Siakam
50. "I've turned down a shot I can make with my eyes closed, but that was to get one of my teammates a shot he can make in his sleep." - Victor Wembanyama
51. "Greatness is boring. There was a lot of boring days in the gym just working on my one dribble pull ups." - Anthony Edwards
52. "A big reason guys get stuck in the G-League is that they don't understand the position they're trying out for. It's like going to a job interview thinking you're going to be the CFO of the company and they're looking for a guy to clean the bathrooms." - Alex Caruso
53. "You can live if you miss. You cannot live if you don't shoot it." - Giannis Antetokounmpo
54. "If you want to play defense, you will. I approach defense like it's the most important thing on the court." - Caleb Wilson

Legendary Coaches

John Wooden

55. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
56. "If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."
57. "Poise and confidence are not possible unless you have prepared correctly. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Poise and confidence are a natural result of proper preparation."
58. "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?"
59. "Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there." - John Wooden

Phil Jackson

60. "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."
61. "The most we can hope for is to create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome. The ride is a lot more fun that way."
62. "No one plays this or any game perfectly. It's the guy who recovers from his mistakes who wins."
63. "Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We." - Phil Jackson

Pat Summitt

64. "Confidence is what happens when you've done the hard work that entitles you to succeed."
65. "Winning is fun...sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point."
66. "Quit? Quit? We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities, because they fear failure. They don't understand commitment. When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do."
67. "There is always someone better than you. Whatever it is that you do for a living, chances are, you will run into a situation in which you are not as talented as the person next to you. That's when being a competitor can make a difference in your fortunes."
68. "When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life. It gives you vision. But you can't acquire it if you're afraid of keeping score."
69. "Practicing hard is a choice. Watching extra film is a choice. Lifting weights, being coachable, and going to class are a choice. Your choices here are going to force me to either play you, or sit you on the bench. You'll get exactly what you want."
70. "Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it." - Pat Summitt

Mike Krzyzewski

71. "I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball."
72. "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."
73. "I get a group of people who are talented to commit to excellence and to work together as one. That's where it starts. Different talents, same commitment." - Mike Krzyzewski
74. "Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them." - Mike Krzyzewski
75. "Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name on it." - Mike Krzyzewski
76. "During the season, your team should be led with exuberance and excitement. You should live the journey. You should live it right. You should live it together. You should live it shared. You should try to make one another better. You should get on one another if somebody's not doing their part. You should hug one another when they are. You should be disappointed in a loss and exhilarated in a win. It's all about the journey." - Mike Krzyzewski
77. "In our program, the truth is the basis of all that we do. There is nothing more important than the truth because there's nothing more powerful than the truth. Consequently, on our team, we always tell one another the truth. We must be honest with one another. There is no other way." - Mike Krzyzewski
78. "Throughout the season, I look into my players' eyes to gauge feelings, confidence levels, and to establish instant trust." - Mike Krzyzewski
79. "When you first assemble a group, it's not a team right off the bat. It's only a collection of individuals." - Mike Krzyzewski
80. "Two are better than one if two act as one." - Mike Krzyzewski
81. "There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable." - Mike Krzyzewski
82. "People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good." - Mike Krzyzewski
83. "I'd take a 2-star recruit with a 5-star work ethic over a 5-star recruit with a 2-star work ethic any day." - Mike Krzyzewski

Other Coaches

84. "It's not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters." - Paul "Bear" Bryant
85. "Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships." - Paul "Bear" Bryant
86. "Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win." - Bobby Knight
87. "What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it." - Dean Smith
88. "It's what you get from games you lose that is extremely important." - Pat Riley
89. "There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in, or you're out. There's no such thing as 'life in-between'." - Pat Riley
90. "Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning." - Jeff Van Gundy
91. "It takes three things to be a 'special' player: talent, character, and competitive fire." - Kevin Eastman
92. "Coaches shouldn't have to push you to work hard. You should push yourself because you want to be a great player." - Bob Knight
93. "No one is bigger than the team. If you can't do things our way, you're not getting time here, and we don't care who you are." - Gregg Popovich
94. "A strong culture is not about winning, it's about creating an environment where everyone can be their best selves." - Gregg Popovich
95. "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
96. "We wait for life to get easier. But life never gets easier. What happens is you handle hard better." - Kara Lawson
97. "A lot of people notice when you succeed, but they don't see what it takes to get there." - Dawn Staley
98. "I like the challenge of getting players to rise to certain levels, but that's the easy part. The biggest challenge is to get them to believe in what we're doing. They have to understand that it's O.K. to have good days and bad days." - Dawn Staley
99. "I tell our guys everyday, every person on the roster can help us win a game by making just one play." - Steve Kerr
100. "Your mark is what you do on a day when you don't want to do it. How good are you on a day when you just don't have it? Can you push yourself that day? That's a mark of your character." - Bob Hurley, Sr.
101. "Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players." - Billy Donovan
102. "Don't ever have a rule that you won't enforce with your best player." - Doug Collins
103. "Practice shared suffering. If one guy messes up, everyone runs. If one guy does well, everyone benefits." - Don Meyer
104. "The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get." - Jerry Tarkanian
105. "Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth." - Doc Rivers
106. "Defense tells you if you won or not, offense tells you by how much." - Dan Hurley
107. "Don't turn your back on me! I'm the best f****** coach in the sport!" - Dan Hurley
108. "I believe you win games by what you do from your first practice until your first game." - Jack Ramsay
109. "The survival rate for competitors is much higher than complainers." - Avery Johnson
110. "Disrespect will close doors that apologies can't reopen. Always remember that." - Avery Johnson
111. "Hard work alone won't guarantee success, but without hard work, I'll guarantee you won't have success." - Bruce Pearl
112. "You have to make the choice when you wake up every day that you're going to rebound on both ends of the floor." - Joe Mazzulla
113. "Bad shots will beat you faster than anything else." - Rick Majerus
114. "If you're the best player in the gym, then you need a new gym." - Kelly Flagg
115. "The first step on the ladder of success is always failure." - Kelvin Sampson
116. "Appreciation for everyone along your journey will go a long way." - Rob Yanders
117. "It's just adversity. You can look it square in the eyes and piss all over it...if you're smart." - Rick Pitino
118. "I've yet to see a good coach with bad players. It's a player's game. Get the right players that fit together, get them on the bus, get them on time, and tell them the truth." - Matt Painter
119. "You do not get the successes without tolerating the failures first. Learning is a mistake-filled process; we have to allow for mistakes in games, not just in practices." - Brian McCormick
120. "We didn't win that game because I gave some speech at halftime. We won that game because of what we did six months ago." - Mike Elko
121. "Rebounding is 100% effort. You're either too cool for it, too soft, or you're too lazy. God forbid you're all three." - Mick Cronin
122. "There's a difference between losing and being a loser. Losing is not getting the outcome that you want. Being a loser is when you lose and you don't care, and you're not willing to give what it takes to be successful." - Jordi Fernández
123. "I don't put pressure on them about their shooting. I put pressure on them on how hard they play, how hard they run, how much effort they give, how much passion they play with. Those are my stats." - Tom Izzo

Other Sports Figures and Inspirational Quotes

124. "I can't believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary." - Lou Holtz
125. "I don't have to be what you want me to be." - Muhammad Ali
126. "Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control." - Tom Landry
127. "The man who has no imagination has no wings." - Muhammad Ali
128. "The harder you work, the luckier you get." - Gary Player
129. "You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good." - Jerry West
130. "Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what the hell you're doing." - Peyton Manning
131. "There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher." - Ted Williams
132. "It's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." - Rocky Balboa
133. "A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." - Jack Dempsey
134. "Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory." - Bill Russell
135. "You always have to give 100%, because if you don't, someone, somewhere will give 100% and they will beat you when you meet." - Ed Macauley
136. "Winning isn't everything, but wanting it is." - Arnold Palmer
137. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." - Wayne Gretzky
138. "The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot." - Bill Walton
139. "Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement." - Marv Levy
140. "If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it." - Ronnie Lott
141. "The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle." - Steve Jobs
142. "I was taught to play the game from a total team concept. To be able to do everything reasonably well and some things extraordinarily well. If I'm not shooting well, I'll try to be an asset in other ways – like defense, passing, rebounding, and hustle." - Rick Barry
143. "If you only ever give 90% in training then you will only ever give 90% when it matters." - Michael Owen
144. "One score makes happy ONE player, one assist makes happy TWO." - Toni Kukoc
145. "I don't complain about playing time. My job is to play so well the coach can't sit me." - Shane Battier
146. "Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute." - Bill Russell
147. "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
148. "Confidence is everything in this game, if you don't think you can, you won't." - Jerry West
149. "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine
150. "Confidence comes from work not words." - Sean McVay
151. "If you think the price of winning is too high, wait until you get the bill for regret." - Tim Grover
152. "Are the results you are expecting aligned with the work you put in every day?" - Anonymous
153. "It doesn't make sense to continue wanting something if you're not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don't want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process, is to guarantee disappointment." - Anonymous
154. "True success is who you become while waiting on God's timing." - Shedeur Sanders
155. "Show up 100%, 100% of the time." - Anonymous

Wrapping Up

These quotes from basketball's greatest minds offer more than just motivation for the court. They provide valuable life lessons about perseverance, teamwork, and the pursuit of excellence. Whether you're facing challenges in sports, work, or personal life, let these words of wisdom guide you and your team towards success.

We'll be sure to keep this post updated, so be sure to check back often!

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