"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"

"The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play 'Drop the Handkerchief.'"

"Nobody cared about swimming. You could draw a crowd for basketball"

"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"

"I think I have the skills. I'm a great judge of talent. I just know basketball"

"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"

"In football, there were drinks available everywhere you looked. On a golf tournament, you could find one free anywhere you wanted it. In tennis and NBA basketball, everybody had a hospitality suite, and so you could go there and load up if you wanted to"

"I enjoy the last quarter of all basketball games"

"I was homecoming queen. I was star of my basketball team"

"Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps"

"When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball"