Tag: Borislav Stankovic

The National Basketball Association had …

The National Basketball Association had virtually no relationship with FIBA when Mr. Stankovic requested a meeting with the N.B.A.’s commissioner at the time, David Stern, in the mid-1980s, during the latter years of the Cold War. “His goal was very much to unify the world of basketball,” Russ Granik, a former N.B.A. deputy commissioner, said of Mr. Stankovic in a phone interview.

Mr. Stankovic told N.B.A. officials …

Mr. Stankovic told N.B.A. officials about his vision of having the best players in the world participate in major FIBA events, Mr. Granik said. “It wasn’t ready to happen yet,” he said, “but he wanted to start working toward that.” He added, “We were kind of surprised by all this, coming from him, because we’d always been told that they don’t want N.B.A. players in their events — they want to keep their world separate.”

Legendary Borislav Stankovic passed …

Legendary Borislav Stankovic passed away at the age of 94 in his home at Belgrade, Serbia. His enormous contribution to basketball throughout his life was well-recognized and included his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 1991. As FIBA’s Secretary General in 1989, he laid the foundations for NBA players to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time by adjusting FIBA’s rules. As a result, the Dream Team appeared and ultimately conquered gold in Barcelona.