Sometimes you’ll need inspirational basketball quotes.
At times, you’ll mentally be drained and the right words from a Magic, Shaq, or Jordan will bring you back around into a positive state of mind again.
Other times you’ll have had a bad game or practice and you’ll need to fix a self confidence issue.
Whatever it may be, the following inspirational basketball quotes you’ll find on this page will give you the motivation you need (and so will the other pages of quotes you’ll find within our Basketball Plays and Tips site).
Additionally, if we find inspirational and motivational quotes from outside the sporting world that we feel will help you, we’ll add those in, too.
Inspirational Basketball Quotes (1-5)
- “Never underestimate the heart of a champion.” – Rudy Tomjanovich
- “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- “Picture in your mind a sense of personal destiny.” – Wayne Oates
- “What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player.” – John Wooden
- “It takes no more effort to expect the best, than to fear the worst. It’s healthier, more productive, and a lot more fun!” – Philip E. Humbert, PhD
- “First master the fundamentals.” – Larry Bird
- “Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.” – James Naismith
- “Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity.” – Earl Nightingale
- “Pressure can burst a pipe or pressure can make a diamond.” – Robert Horry
- “It is not how big you are, it is how big you play.” – Unknown
- “Of all your troubles, great and small, the greatest are the ones that don’t happen at all.” – Thomas Carlyle
- “Motivation is like food for the brain. You cannot get enough in one sitting. It needs continual and regular top up’s.” – Peter Davies
- “You can’t make a great play unless you do it first in practice.” – Chuck Noll
- “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
- “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Horace Lorimer
- “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” – Tim Duncan
- “There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket.” – Abe Lemons
- “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
- “Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.” – Scottie Pippen
- “Any American boy can be a basketball star if he grows up, up, up.” – Bill Vaughn