Basketball Quotes

In this blog, we have covered the most Catchy Basketball Quotes, Inspirational Basketball Quotes, Basketball Motivation Quotes, Best Basketball Quotes, Famous Basketball Quotes, Funny Basketball Captions, Basketball Sayings and Great Basketball Quotes.

 

Catchy Basketball Quotes

• “Bad shooters are always open” – Pete Carril
• “If you’re going to have to beg them to play, it’s not going to work.”-Chuck Daly
• “I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed.“-Lebron James
• “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise” – Michael Jordan
• “I’m still waiting for perfection. In the meantime, I’ll settle for persistence” – Bo Ryan
• “There is a direct correlation between the number of ball reversals and defensive breakdowns” – Kevin Eastman
• “Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you’re never wrong?” – Pat Summitt
• “Not only is there more to life than basketball, there’s a lot more to basketball than basketball” – Phil Jackson
• “You can’t always be the most talented or gifted person in the room, but you can be the most competitive.“-Pat Summit
• “Bottom line, you’re either a risk taker, or your not, and if you don’t take risks, you’ll never win big.”-Geno Auriemma
• “If it turns out that my best wasn’t good enough, at least I wont look back and say that I was afraid to try” – Michael Jordan
• “The greatness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive. The weakness of Michael Jordan is his competitive drive” – Phil Jackson
• “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
• “In developing teams, I don’t believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don’t promote teamwork, standards do” – Mike Krzyzewski
• “There is a lot of pressure put on me, but I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel if I play my game, it will take care of itself.”-Lebron James
• “I can’t stand a ballplayer who plays in fear. Any fellow who has a good shot has got to take it and keep taking it. So he misses – so what?” – Red Auerbach
• “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 at the arena” – Charles Barkley
• “When I walked into the gym, I fell in love with the game. I didn’t fall in love with it just because it was me playing. I fell in love with it because I’ve got guys like this – like these guys every single day that push me to be the best that I can be.”-Kevin Duran

 

Inspirational Basketball Quotes

• “Young men need more models, not critics”– John Wooden
• “Be led by your dreams not by your problems.” – Roy Williams
• “If you’re not talking, you’re not playing defense” – Doc Rivers
• “Winners are not people who do not fail, but people who never quit“-Anonymous
• “Teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one” – Mike
• “I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments” – Mike Krzyzewski
• “If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!“-Charles Barkley
• “You don’t play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.”—Bobby Knight
• “Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.“-Magic Johnson
• “I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.“-Michael Jordan
• “Everything negative — pressure, challenges — are all an opportunity for me to rise.“-Kobe Bryant
• “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” –Ann Landers
• “Shooting percentage is just as much about decision making as it is about technique”– Jeff Van Gundy
• “What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player” – John Wooden
• “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.“– Tim Duncan
• “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.“-Larry Bird
• “We believe in people executing their role and caring about the team more than anything individually” – Gregg Popovich
• “My goal is to win the next game one possession at a time. That’s it. I don’t have any other goals” – Brad Stevens
• “The key is not the ‘will to win’… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important” – Bob Knight
• “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
• “A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players “see” situations before they happen so they can be prepared” – Dr. Jack Ramsay
• “All the successful teams I’ve ever seen have three characteristics: They play unselfish, they play together, and they play hard.“-Larry Brown
• “Everyone is born with a certain potential. You may never achieve your full potential, but how close you come depends on how much you want to pay the price.“-Red Auerbach
• “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
• “The one thing I learned about myself going back and watching tapes of all the losses that we’ve had is that I’m physically capable of doing this and dominating the game, but the mental part was not there. I don’t know if it comes with age, but I had to learn to be mentally tough.” – Lisa Leslie

 

Basketball Motivation Quotes

• “Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute.”— Bill Russell
• “Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.”― Jim Valvano
• “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”― Michael Jordan
• “If you are afraid of failure, you don’t deserve to be successful!”― Charles Barkley
• “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”― John Wooden
• “Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for them.”― Magic Johnson
• “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.”― Jerry West
• “Winning is overemphasized. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war.”― Al McGuire
• “I believe you win games by what you do from your first practice until your first game.”― Dr. Jack Ramsay
• “It’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• “It takes three things to be a ‘special’ player: talent, character, and competitive fire.”― Kevin Eastman
• “No one plays this or any game perfectly. It’s the guy who recovers from his mistakes who wins.”― Phil Jackson
• “Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning.”― Jeff Van Gundy
• “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.”― Phil Jackson
• “A team will always appreciate a great individual if he’s willing to sacrifice for the group.”― Kareem Abdul Jabbar
• “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”— John Wooden
• “Coaches shouldn’t have to push you to work hard. You should push yourself because you want to be a great player.”― Bob Knight
• “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
• “The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them, and you really want them to be successful.”― Kobe Bryant
• “Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate, anything. But it’s not what you ask of me; it’s what I ask of myself.”― LeBron James
• “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
• “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
• “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
• “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
• “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.”― Michael Jordan
• “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

 

Best Basketball Quotes

• “Basketball doesn’t build character, it reveals it.” – James Naismith
• “Excellence is a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.” – Shaquille O’Neal
• “I treated it like every day was my last day with a basketball.” – LeBron James
• “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” – John Wooden
• “Keep practicing. Never let someone tell you you’re too small or too slow.” – Chris Paul
• “Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan
• “Nothing is given; nothing is handed to you. You have to take what you deserve.” – Marcus Keene
• “No one knows how big your potential is, how big your heart is, when you start.” – Muggsy Bogues
• “Making the big shot wouldn’t feel so good if missing it didn’t feel so awful.” – Paul Pierce
• “Basketball isn’t just a sport. It is an art, one that must be mastered to succeed.” – Steph Curry
• “You have to go through good times and bad times to get where you’re trying to go.” – Allen Iverson
• “Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.” – Wilt Chamberlain
• “You are responsible for how people remember you—or don’t. So don’t take it lightly.” – Kobe Bryant
• “Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase them.” – Carmelo Anthony
• “The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.” – Bill Russell
• “For me, when I get knocked down, I really try to get back up and go at it again. I don’t like to give up.” – Jeremy Lin
• “A lot of people told me I couldn’t do it because of my size. I was determined to prove those people wrong.” – Ben Wallace
• “Don’t let winning make you soft. Don’t let losing make you quit. Don’t let your teammates down in any situation.” – Larry Bird
• “Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort.” – Elgin Baylor
• “If you love the game and you love playing, just have fun and enjoy it. Work hard and don’t get bogged down by it.” – Blake Griffin
• “There’s no reason to hold yourself back and say you can’t do something in life unless you go for it and try to do it.” – Russell Westbrook
• “Every time I’m on the court, every time a fan cheers for me, I just want to go out and make a play for them to cheer even more.” – Joel Embiid
• “Whatever your goal is: dedicate yourself to it. And it’s going to be a lot of sacrifice, but if you love what you want to do, it shouldn’t be a problem.” – Derrick Rose
• “There are going to be a number of people all of the time telling you that you’re too small. They still tell me that, but I just make them eat their words.” – Isaiah Thomas
• “Whatever I try to do, I always try to give it my best and try to be a killer because, at the end of the day, if you don’t work hard, you are not going to get food on your table.” – Giannis Antetokoumbo
• “Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s about being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from other players.” – Larry Bird
• “You can’t stop people from trying to limit your dreams, but you can stop it from becoming a reality. Your dreams are up to you. I encourage you to always be curious, always seek out things you love and always work hard once you find it.” – Kobe Bryant
• “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six 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

 

Famous Basketball Quotes

• “Trust the process.” – Joel Embiid
• “The key to success is failure.” – Michael Jordan
• The greatest match a man can win is won within. – Unknown
• “The worst has happened. The best is next.” – Paul George
• “Hard work isn’t enough. You gotta believe.” – Derrick Rose
• “All dreams are crazy. Until they come true.” – Dirk Nowitzki
• The wise does at once what the fool does at last. – Gracian Baltasar
• “He who expects not to achieve will never do so.” – Caron Butler
• Maturity is the capacity to endure uncertainty. – John Huston Finley
• Ability is important, dependability is critical! – Alexander Lockheart
• The true champion loses many battles before winning the war. – Unknown
• Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. – Ralph W. Emerson
• Change your thoughts and you change your world. – Norman Vincent Peale
• “Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.” – James Naismith
• To avoid criticism do nothing…say nothing…be nothing! – Elbert Hubbard
• When we trust God, He can make the ordinary extraordinary! – John C. Maxwell
• “Don’t let what other people think decide who you are.” – Dennis Rodman
• “​​I’d rather have more heart than talent any day.” – Allen Iverson
• The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. – Mark Twain
• Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it. – Irving Berlin
• “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” – LeBron James
• “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
• “Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.” – Kobe Bryant
• She didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so she went ahead and did it. – Mary’s Almanac
• I’ve always felt it was not up to anyone else to make me give my best. – Akeem Olajuwon
• Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. – Henry David Thoreau
• “If you do the work, you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.” – Michael Jordan
• He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has. – Henry Ward Beecher
• A great many people seem to end up over the hill without ever having actually climbed it!- Unknown
• “So many people doubted me. They motivated me every single day to be who I am.” – Kevin Durant
• Our attitude is the primary force that will determine whether we succeed or fail. – John C. Maxwell
• The superior man blames himself. An inferior man blames others. – Don Shula, Former Miami Dolphins coach
• Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. – Norman Vincent Peale
• Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. – Mark Twain
• “Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.” – Kobe Bryant
• Some people who yearn for endless life don’t even know what to do with a rainy afternoon. – Harvey H. Potthoff
• The roads we take are more important than the goals we announce. Decisions determine destiny. – Frederick Speakman
• Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done. – Josh Billings
• The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. – Arthur C. Clarke
• “I can’t do it” never yet accomplished anything; “I will try” has performed wonders. – George P. Burnham
• Men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. – L. Jones
• Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past, the neglected opportunity. – Omar Idn Al-Halif
• Failure isn’t so bad if it doesn’t attack the heart. Success is all right if it doesn’t go to the head. – Grantland Rice
• It is better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length be be right too late. – Marilyn Moats Kennedy
• The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.- Albert Einstein
• Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. – Lou Holtz
• A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing. – George Bernard Shaw
• Everybody is looking for instant success, but it doesn’t work that way. You build a successful life one day at a time. – Lou Holtz
• You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction. – Alvin Toffler
• Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer
• Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first time or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory. – Betty Smith
• The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi
• The secret of successful people lies in their ability to discover their strengths and organize their life so that these strengths can be applied. – John C. Maxwell
• The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. – William James
• Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude. – Timothy Bentley
• The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. – Vince Lombardi

 

Funny Basketball Captions

• I put the ‘fun’ in fundamentals.
• I run on caffeine, chaos, and basketball.
• Don’t make excuses, make your free throws.
• I don’t sweat; I sparkle. That’s how I ball.
• I don’t sweat, I sparkle. That’s how I ball.
• I don’t need a therapist; I have a basketball.
• I have a black belt in ankle-breaking crossovers.
• If basketball were easy, they’d call it football.
• The best defense is a good offense, and a sense of humor.
• If you think I am crazy now, wait until basketball season.
• My jump shot is so smooth, it’s like butter on hot toast.
• Basketball is like my favorite pizza topping: extra cheesy.
• I’m on a strict ‘no dunking without permission’ policy.
• My basketball skills are inversely proportional to my height.
• I have a Ph.D. in ballin’ and a master’s in making people laugh.
• I’m not just a basketball player, I’m one of the greatest players around.
• I may not be LeBron James, but I can definitely carry my team at the local YMCA.
• I may not be the fastest, but I’m the best at making the most dramatic layup attempts.
• I don’t need a gym membership; basketball is my workout and comedy show rolled into one.
• I can’t dunk, but I have mastered the art of ‘almost’ dunking. It’s an acquired skill, really.

 

Basketball Sayings

• Leave it all on the court.
• When in doubt, shoot it out.
• Greatness is earned, not given.
• The court is where I feel alive.
• Dream big, work hard, ball harder.
• I’m not a player; I’m the game.
• On the court, I find my truest self.
• Champions are made in the offseason.
• Work hard, play harder, ball harder.
• Elevate your game, elevate your life.
• Basketball is my escape from reality.
• There’s no traffic on the extra mile.
• Dedication + Determination = Domination.
• Every setback is a setup for a comeback.
• The basketball court is where magic happens.
• Basketball is my passion, my fire, my purpose.
• I’m always hustling for the love of the game.
• Champions keep playing until they get it right.
• The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.
• Heart is what separates the good from the great.
• I’m not short; I’m fun-sized for basketball.
• Basketball is my language; the court is my voice.
• Chase your dreams like you chase that basketball.
• The only limits are the ones you set for yourself.
• Basketball: where legends are born and heroes rise.
• Basketball is not just a sport; it’s an art form.
• The best way to predict the future is to create it.
• Basketball doesn’t build character; it reveals it.
• Basketball is my therapy, the court is my sanctuary.
• Fearlessly chasing my dreams, one dribble at a time.
• I don’t need luck; I have skill and determination.
• Basketball is more than a game; it’s a way of life.
• Embrace the struggle; it will make your success sweeter.
• Basketball taught me discipline, teamwork, and resilience.
• The court is my canvas, and my moves are the brushstrokes.
• Play like you’re in first, train like you’re in second.
• Push yourself because no one else is going to do it for you.
• I’m always working hard to be the best player that I can be.
• The scoreboard doesn’t define me; my love for the game does.
• It’s not the size of the player, but the size of their heart.
• Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.
• I’m a triple threat: eating, sleeping, and playing basketball.
• In basketball, as in life, keep your head up and your goals high.
• In basketball, there’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is in win.
• Basketball: the only place where airballs are socially acceptable.
• Believe in yourself and your team. Together, anything is possible.
• Free throws are as easy as breathing; just do it and let it happen.
• Success is not given; it’s earned through hard work and sacrifice.
• I play basketball not to escape life, but for life not to escape me.
• In basketball, you have to believe in yourself when no one else does.
• Basketball is poetry in motion, and I’m the author of my own story.
• The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
• In the game of basketball, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
• The game is won or lost in the mind before it’s ever played on the court.
• I’m the MVP of procrastinating, but give me a basketball and watch me go!
• Basketball taught me the importance of discipline, teamwork, and resilience.
• I appreciate the opportunity to play against better teams and great players.
• It’s not about the size of the player; it’s about the size of the heart.
• My vertical leap? Let’s just say I have a lot of ‘down to earth’ moves.
• I’m so good at basketball, I could win a game of H-O-R-S-E with my eyes closed.
• Basketball is not just about winning; it’s about the passion and love for the game.
• I have a sixth sense: finding open teammates on the court and open snacks in the fridge.
• My basketball skills are unconventional, but surprisingly effective, like my dance moves.
• I don’t always shoot three-pointers, but when I do, the crowd goes wild (with laughter).
• Success is not determined by how many times you fall, but by how many times you get back up.
• Remember, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
• The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.

 

Great Basketball Quotes

• “Just do what you do best.”- Red Auerbach
• “The best teams play for each other, not with each other.”- Jeff Van Gundy
• “Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ballpark.”- Michael Jordan
• “Winning is like deodorant – it comes up, and a lot of things don’t stink.”- Doc Rivers
• “We try to stress the little things because little things lead to big things.”- Steve Alford
• “Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war.”- Al McGuire
• “The best way to forget one’s self is to look at the world with attention and love.”- Red Auerbach
• “Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God’s way to say nobody’s perfect.”- Shaquille O’Neal
• “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.”- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• “There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet and put the darn ball in the basket.”- Abe Lemmons
• “I hate it. It looks like a stickup at 7-Eleven. Five guys standing there with their hands in the air.”- Norm Sloa
• “We’re shooting 100 percent – 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line.”- Norm Stewart
• “I have had some bad shooting games, but that doesn’t stop me from getting the ball to my teammates.”- Jason Kidd
• “The biggest thing is just routine. I think that’s the biggest correlation between golfers and basketball players.”- Steph Curry
• “The reason we win games is not typical of a top-five team. We’re winning on execution and heart and guts and playing smart.”- Mark Few
• “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
• “As a professional athlete, a lot is going to be said about you – but I just try to move forward and try to achieve my goals.”- LeBron James
• “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
• “Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievements for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.”- Kareem Abdul-Jabaar
• “You have to be able to center yourself to let all of your emotions go. Don’t ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.”- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• “Do you know how I learned to shoot? I watched white people. Just regular white people. They really put their elbow in and finish up top. You can find videos of them online.”- Joel Embiid
• “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