I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.

Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

This is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me and in front of me.

I'm reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.

"When we are saying this cannot be accomplished, this cannot be done, then we are short-changing ourselves. My brain, it cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I have to sit there and face myself and tell myself, 'You are a failure,' I think that is almost worse than dying."

"I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I'm like, 'My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don't have it. I just want to chill.' We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it."

"The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s--less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn't kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn't really exist if you're in the right frame of mind." 

"I've played with IVs before, during and after games. I've played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don't miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn't that serious in the first place."

“Sometimes you need to get hit in the head to realize that you’re in a fight.”

“Sometimes, things may not go your way, but the effort should be there every single night.”

“There is no ‘i’ in team but there is in win.”

“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.”

“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”

“In college I never realized the opportunities available to a pro athlete. I’ve been given the chance to meet all kinds of people, to travel and expand my financial capabilities, to get ideas and learn about life, to create a world apart from basketball.”

“My body could stand the crutches but my mind couldn’t stand the sideline.”

“I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.”

“When I will lose the sense of motivation and the sense to prove something as a basketball player, it’s time for me to move away from the game.”

“I mean we all fly. Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others.”

“The best come from the worst.”

“Best evaluation I can make of a player is to look in his eyes and see how scared they are.”

“Choice of sources can shield extreme bias behind a façade of objectivity.” 

“there has been a deepening recognition among elites in the West that as you begin to lose the power to control people by force, you have to start to control what they think. And in the United States, that recognition has reached its apogee.”