Basketball motivational quotes are fun to read and can sometimes even inspire a team to play their best.
These quotes on the game of basketball come from current and former players, along with coaches and other basketball personalities. They can motivate, make you laugh, or help teams come together.
Motivational Basketball Quotes
1.) I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.
Michael Jordan
2.) It’s okay to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.
Kareem Abdul-Jabaar
3.) Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful in anything you put your mind to.
Bob Cousy
4.) Nothing is given. Everything is earned.
LeBron James
5.) Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.
Tim Duncan
6.) I don’t complain about playing time. My job is to play so well the coach can’t sit me.
Shane Battier
7.) Goals determine what you’re going to be.
Julius Erving
Motivating Basketball Sayings
8.) If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit.
Michael Jordan
9.) Something doesn’t just pop up under your nose. You have to work for it.
LeBron James
10.) I’m playing, I’m here. I’m going to fight until they tell me they don’t want me anymore.
Steve Nash
11.) In order to achieve positive results, one must work for them, not hope for them.
Bob Knight
12.) Everybody has talent, but the ability takes hard work.
Michael Jordan
13.) Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.
Michael Jordan
14.) If you do the work, you’ll get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.
Michael Jordan
15.) 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
16.) Approach the game with no preset agendas and you’ll probably come away surprised at your overall efforts.
Phil Jackson
17.) 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
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Game Day Quotes
18.) Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days that you don’t feel like doing them.
Julius Erving
19.) Basketball is a lifelong game. You continue to learn from the game day in and day out, and along the way, you get better.
Scottie Pippen
20.) 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
21.) Failure is good. Its fertilizer. Everything I’ve learned about coaching I’ve learned from making mistakes.
Rick Pitino
22.) If you want a view from the top, practice, not parties, it will take you where you want to go.
Kevin Johnson
Inspirational Basketball Quotes
23.) Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
John Wooden
24.) The number one thing is desire, the ability to do things you have to do to become a basketball player.
Larry Bird
25.) Any team can be a miracle team, but you have to go out and work for your miracles.
Charles Barkley
26.) Everyone wants to do what the great ones do, but very few are willing to do what they did to become great.
Jon Gordon
27.) Be led by your dreams. Not by your problems.
Roy Williams
28.) We have the mentality of the hunter. We want to be the most enthusiastic team in the country. That’s what we can control.
Shaka Smart
29.) People say, “Relax, the game is over. The game is over.” Well, the game is never over.
Red Auerbach
30.) I know that I’m never as good or bad as any single performance. I’ve never believed my critics or my worshippers, and I’ve always been able to leave the game in the arena.
Charles Barkley
31.) I recruit hungry kids who love the game and want to get better and feel they have more questions than answers.
Bo Ryan
Team Quotes
32.) I’m still waiting for perfection. In the meantime, I’ll settle for persistence.
Bo Ryan
33.) People do not differ in their desire to win; they differ in the price they are willing to pay to win.
Alan Stein
34.) Winners aren’t built overnight.
Bill Fitcher
35.) The great teams learn how to win night after night, week after week, season after season, with no letup.
Don Nelson
36.) Trying to get by on talent is a fatal mistake.
Pete Maravich
37.) Money is only part of the dream. The dream is to be whatever you set out to be – to fulfill your potential.
Red Auerbach
38.) Winning a championship is never easy. And it shouldn’t be.
Phil Jackson
39.) The only thing harder to handle than winning too much is losing too much.
John Wooden
40.) Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players.
Billy Donovan
41.) To be a great teacher of the game you must study the game; know your craft & be proud of your knowledge, but never satisfied with your knowledge.
Kevin Eastman
42.) I like criticism. It makes you strong.
LeBron James
43.) Prepare for every game like you just lost your last game.
Lon Kruger
44.) 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
45.) Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.
Og Mandino
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Famous Basketball Quotes
46.) You can’t come to practice half-assed, going through the motions. How you practice is how you play.
Penny Hardaway
47.) You can’t put toughness in someone. You have to go out and battle.
Penny Hardway
48.) I want to contribute in any way to a great team.
Penny Hardway
49.) If I’ve learned anything, it’s that you can’t get anything for granted.
Penny Hardaway
50.) There are really only two plays, Romeo and Juliet and put the darn ball in the basket.
Abe Lemmons
51.) We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors.
Weldon Drew
52.) Fans never fell asleep at our games, because they’re afraid they may get hit by a pass.
George Raveling
53.) Any American boy can be a basketball star if he grows up, up, up.
Bill Vaughn
54.) I knew it was time to retire when I was driving down the lane and got called for a three-second violation.
Johnny Kerr
Good Hoops Quotations
55.) The only difference between a bad shot and a good shot is if it goes in or not.
Charles Barkley
56.) If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball.
Phil Jackson
57.) Shooting is just like toenails. They may fall off occasionally, but you know they’ll always come back.
Charles Johnson
58.) I’ll always remember this as the night Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points.
Stacey King, after Michael Jordan scored a playoff record 69 points (Check out Michael Jordan Quotations.)
59.) I never thought I’d lead the NBA in rebounding, but I got a lot of help from my teammates. They did a lot of missing.
Moses Malone
Funny Basketball Quotes
60.) In my prime, I could’ve handled Michael Jordan. Of course, he would have only been 12 years old.
Jerry Sloan
61.) A team should be an extension of a coach’s personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.
Al McGuire
62.) This year we plan to run and shoot. Next season we hope to run and score.
Billy Tubbs
63.) This is basketball, not figure skating. You don’t get extra points for degree of difficulty.
Bobby Hurley
64.) The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy.
Jerry Tarkanian
65.) Basketball is like a war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.
Red Auerbach
66.) When I dunk, I put something on it. I want the ball to hit the floor before I do.
Darryl Dawkins
67.) 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
Funny Sayings About Basketball
68.) Me shooting 40 percent from the free-throw line is God’s way of saying that nobody is perfect.
Shaquille O’Neal
69.) The greatness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive. The weakness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive.
Phil Jackson
70.) I want us to play mother-in-law defense: constant nagging and harassment.
Rick Pitino
71.) I always laugh when people ask me about rebounding techniques. I’ve got a technique It’s called just go get the damn ball.
Charles Barkley
Hilarious Basketball Quotations
71.) Kids are great. That’s one of the best things about our business, all the kids you get to meet. It’s a shame they have to grow up to be regular people and come to the games and call you names.
Charles Barkley
72.) They shot the ball well early. What comes out of the microwave hot doesn’t always stay hot. I know, because I eat bagels in the morning.
Shaquille O’Neal
73.) Basketball is like photography. If you don’t focus, you’ll only get the negative.
Dan Frisby
74.) I’m not against taking shots, but I am against taking bad shots.
Hank Iba
75.) If you make every game a life and death proposition, you’re going to have problems. For one thing, you’ll be dead a lot.
Dean Smith
76.) They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.
Wilt Chamberlain
77.) You can say something to popes, presidents and kings, but you can’t talk to officials. In the next war, they ought to give everyone a whistle.
Abe Lemmons
78.) Scoring 100 points is a lot, but I maybe could have scored 140 if they had played straight-up basketball.
Wilt Chamberlain
79.) If you can walk with your head in the clouds and keep your feet on the ground, you can make it in the NBA.
Gary Dornhoefer
80.) The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.
Al McGuire
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Basketball Quotes Funny
81.) I really appreciate this award, but I don’t want to win it ever again.
Marcus Denmon, after receiving the Sixth Man of the Team Award for the Missouri Tigers
82.) He makes plays you can’t coach, and he makes plays that look like he’s never been coached.
Bill Self comment on point guard Tyshawn Taylor
83.) You got to believe in yourself. Hell, I believe I’m the best-looking guy in the world and I might be right.
Charles Barkley
84.) We’re shooting 100 percent – 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line.
Norm Stewart
85.) 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
86.) Friends can come and go, but banners stay forever.
Kobe Bryant
87.) The other side of this is that a good man has been liberated.
Rick Carlisle, on the firing of coach David Blatt
88.) I don’t tweet. I don’t Google. And, I don’t Instagram.
Quin Snyder
89.) Toronto to me is a clean New York.
Charles Barkley
90.) LeBron James still gets criticism. Jesus still gets criticized.
D’Angelo Russell
Great Basketball Quotes
91.) It’s a world game. It’s not expensive to play. You can have fun playing by yourself or one-on-one with another person. Basketball is for everyone.
Red Auerbach
92.) 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
93.) We try to stress the little things. Because little things lead to big things.
Steve Alford
94.) The game I invented in 1891 back at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA college has had a fine part in the development of better international understanding.
James Naismith
95.) Basketball has been a powerful force for understanding and race relations in our society.
John McLendon
96.) Even when I’m old and gray, I won’t be able to play it, but I’ll still love the game.
Michael Jordan
Best Basketball Quotes
97.) Play to win. You can’t play tentatively, you can’t play scared.
Rollie Massimino
98.) Basketball is like a game of chess. But until you win the championship, it’s not checkmate.
Isiah Thomas
99.) Basketball is like a really fast-paced game of chess, where every move has its benefits and repercussions.
Bill Walton
100.) One day of good practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.
John Wooden
101.) The only way to find your rhythm is by repetition. Do a thing a thousand times and pretty soon you do it easily and gracefully.
Adolph Rupp
102.) The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponents believe you might block every shot.
Bill Russell
103.) Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.
Dale Brown
104.) The mental approach to things is what separates players at every level.
Lisa Leslie
105.) Blame is the coward’s way out.
Elvin Hayes
Basketball Inspiration
106.) I don’t look for excuses when we lose, and I don’t buy excuses when we win.
Dave Cowens
107.) Believe in yourself. If you believe you can do something, don’t let anybody in the whole world tell you can’t.
Slick Watts
108.) Play the game with a smile.
Earl Monroe
109.) Shooting is nothing. Anybody can shoot. The big thrill is putting on a show for the crowd.
Pete Maravich
110.) Obviously there have been times when I’ve failed. But there have never been times when I thought I would fail.
Michael Jordan
111.) To me, it’s a serious game. Don’t expect me to be having all kinds of fun when the score’s tied, two seconds left, and the other guys have the ball.
Larry Bird
Game Day Motivation
112.) There is a direct correlation between the number of ball reversals and defensive breakdowns.
Kevin Eastman
113.) I know I have plenty of enemies, but I’d rather be the most hated winning coach in the country than the most popular losing one.
Adolph Rupp
114.) I didn’t have a best move. My best move was just to win.
Magic Johnson
115.) The ones you can never get out of your mind are the ones you lose when you should have won.
Bill Walton
116.) For a basketball official, the highest accolade is silence.
Dolly Stark
117.) Basketball may have been invented in Massachusetts, but it was made for Indiana.
Bob Knight
118.) I don’t believe in statistics. There are too many factors that can’t be measured. You can’t measure a ballplayer’s heart.
Red Auerbach
119.) If you are a referee, you have no friends.
Charlie Eckman
120.) Learning what not to do is sometimes more important than learning what to do.
Rick Pitino
Short Basketball Quotes
121.) Today’s society wants to skip the process. And I hate that.
Tom Izzo
122.) No rebounds – no rings.
Pat Riley
123.) Never be ready to play yesterday. Being ready to play today is what’s important.
Pat Riley
124.) Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.
Phil Jackson
125.) It’s a battle of wills, not a battle of skills.
Isaiah Thomas
126.) Never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Rudy Tmjanovich
127.) Basketball is a game easy to play and difficult to master.
James Naismith
128.) Basketball is sharing.
Phil Jackson
129.) Sometimes winning a basketball game is just plain luck.
Dean Smith
130.) The success of the entire team brings home a championship title.
Johnny Osaki
131.) I really get motivated when I have doubters.
Shaquille O’Neal
132.) Discipline is not a nasty word.
Pat Riley
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Creative Basketball Motivational Quotes
133.) One of the biggest reasons I like coaching college ball is the kids. I feel I can impact players’ lives.
Rick Majerus
134.) To win the big games you must get to the free-throw line, and then you must make them.
Rick Majerus
135.) The people who barbecued me ran out of the sauce.
Nolan Richardson
136.) It was a blessing just to play one NBA game.
Allen Iverson
137.) It’s not up to anyone else to make me give my best.
Hakeem Olajuwon
Sayings About Basketball
138.) Basketball is a simple game. Your goal is penetration, get the ball close to the basket, and there are three ways to do that. Pass, dribble and offensive rebound.
Phil Jackson
139.) Some people worry about statistics, but I worry about winning. Statistics are for losers.
Pete Maravich
140.) I know I have plenty of enemies, but I’d rather be the most hated winning coach in the country than the most popular losing one.
Adolph Rupp
141.) Ego is a paradox – it is the point from which you see, but it can also make you blind.
Bill Russell
142.) Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you’re never wrong?
Pat Summitt
143.) The first time you win a championship, it’s a honeymoon. The second time, it’s an odyssey.
Phil Jackson
144.) That’s the thing about basketball. You don’t play the games on paper.
Bill Simmons
145.) It’s not the end of the world when you lose a game, although sometimes as coaches, we feel like it. There’s more to this game of life than his game.
Lenny Wilkens
146.) Basketball gave me the confidence to speak out and gave me the platform to be heard.
Kareem Abdul-Jabaar
147.) Basketball is a sport that involves the subtle interweaving of players at full speed to the point where they are thinking and moving as one.
Phil Jackson
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Good Basketball Motivational Quotes
148.) You don’t play against opponents; you play against the game of basketball.
Bob Knight
149.) Basketball is a full-court game, so every drill must be done full court.
Bob Knight
150.) Have fun doing whatever it is that you desire to accomplish. Learn it one step at a time, emphasizing the fundamentals, and do it because you love it, not because it’s work.
Paul Westphal
151.) Professional coaches measure success in rings. College coaches measure success in championships. High School coaches measure success to titles. Youth coaches measure success in smiles.
Paul McAllister
152.) Whenever you lose, there’s going to be criticism. That’s why they invented talk radio.
Rudy Tomjanovich
153.) I would rather have a player who has mastered two or three moves than to try to teach him six or seven.
Norm Sloan
154.) You must have your player’s heads and hearts before they will do anything for you.
Lawrence Frank
Quotes About Players
155.) In 19 years Stockton never once lost a suicide drill in practice. Well, there was one day. He was sick. But he still ran it.
Jerry Sloan on John Stockton
156.) Hard work is not a punishment. Hard work is the price of admission for the opportunity to reach sustained excellence.
Jay Bilas
157.) All great teams have two things in common: defense & rebounding.
Larry Brown
158.) 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
159.) I played against a lot of guys who could jump. But they all came down.
Bob Hansen
160.) Offense sells tickets. Defense wins games. Rebounds win championships.
Pat Summitt
161.) There is no glory in rebounding – just victory.
George Raveling
162.) In developing teams, I don’t believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don’t promote teamwork, standards do.
Mike Krzyzewski
Good Motivational Basketball Sayings
163.) I’m just playing basketball. I just want to be a great player. That’s it. That’s all I’m thinking about. If the other stuff comes, it comes, but I’m just fortunate to play in the NBA Finals and just to play basketball, period.
Kawhi Leonard
164.) I’d rather block a shot than score.
Bill Russell
165.) Defense is the foundation and heart of the game of basketball.
Jerry Tarkanian
166.) I feel like I have another level every year that I start a new season of basketball. If I continue to keep growing and make everything consistent, I’m going to get better and better each year.
Victor Oladipo
167.) Talent is never enough. With few exceptions, the best players are the hardest workers.
Magic Johnson
168.) Champions play as they practice. Create a consistency of excellence in all your habits.
Mike Krzyzewski
169.) Coaches win practices, players win games.
Pete Carril
Basketball Motivational Quotes — Inspirational
170.) I believe defense is an art.
Dennis Johnson
171.) Offense is spacing and spacing is offense.
Chuck Daly
172.) You don’t have to be “on” to play defense. We hang our hat on defense.
Chuck Daly
173.) Success isn’t the same as talent. The world is full of incredibly talented people who never succeed at anything.
Tim Grover
174.) Sometimes, adrenaline flows into momentum.
Dennis Johnson
175.) Success is the best character builder.
Adolph Rupp
Motivating Quotations on Playing Basketball
176.) Never let fundamentals and building skills take a backseat to game planning. Game plans win games. Fundamentals win championships.
Tom Crean
177.) If you play hard every night, the fans will be in your corner. That’s what we’re all working toward.
Pat Riley
178.) Win, lose or draw, the work itself is what really counts.
Julius Erving
179.) Great teams develop total communication on the floor. Basketball intellects mesh perfectly. They never have to call a play.
John Havlicek
180.) I still say the most important thing in winning basketball games is chemistry.
Shawn Kemp
181.) Molding a team begins with a clear definition of each player’s role.
Jack Ramsay
182.) I want to leave a mark on society.
Penny Hardway
183.) People think I’m soft and bailed on basketball. But it was five knee surgeries.
Penny Hardway
184.) When you still got something in the tank, it’s really hard to let it go.
Penny Hardaway
185.) I lived the dream. God blessed me to live the dream.
Penny Hardway
186.) Somebody has to lose.
Mike Bibby
187.) I just tried to make things happen, whether it was my shots or getting shots for other people.
Mike Bibby
NBA Player Quotes
188.) Guarding LeBron James has to be the hardest job in basketball.
Steve Kerr
189.) Don’t think. As soon as you start thinking, you miss.
Steve Kerr
190.) The future is coming so fast we can’t possibly predict it; we can only learn to respond quickly.
Steve Kerr
191.) I can’t believe how lucky I am.
Steve Kerr
192.) Great execution. That’s what you have to do when you’re playing great teams.
Tracy McGrady
193.) I knew I could. It’s all confidence. I don’t ever lose that.
Tracy McGrady
194.) I don’t believe in pressure. Pressure doesn’t affect me at all.
Tracy McGrady
195.) There’s nothing about me that is selfish.
Tracy McGrady
196.) I’m never satisfied, never going to be.
Tracy McGrady
197.) When I was young, I never wanted to leave until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.
Larry Bird
198.) We have a lot of leaders. They put their egos on hold.
Jack McCloskey
199.) It’s not my job to look good. It’s my job to make other people look good.
Wes Unseld
200.) Winning is about having the whole team on the same page.
Bill Walton
201.) Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden
202.)All great players are self-motivated.
Kevin McHale
How do you motivate a basketball player?
For a basketball coach to motivate a team and individual players, it’s not just one thing. A quote alone won’t do it. It begins by having a base level of knowledge of the game. It requires preparation for practices and games.
Being a good coach entails knowing how to inspire a team. It includes knowing how to demonstrate techniques, explaining not only how, but also the why. It means being honest, a good communicator, and bringing your passion to the game.
Good preparation includes knowing what your team needs to work on, keeping practices fun so repetition doesn’t become boring, and when and how to praise players and the team collectively. That is the lion’s share of how to motivate a team. The french dressing, or the cherry-on-top, might include use quotes like the ones above at the right time.
— Tom McGowan and Mike O’Halloran
Tom and Mike are sportswriters who both live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Overtime
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