Former NBA star Vlade Divac was apparently quite the winner during card-playing sessions with teammates, but recently he said he didn’t actually “win” any money.
Instead, the former Los Angeles Lakers center would exchange favors for winnings after dominating teammates at the tables.
“Yeah, we play cards on our long flights, just try to kill time,” he told Basketball Network. “But my teams, like, I play with the Lakers, I play with the Hornets, I play with the Kings, and then I came back and played with the Lakers,” Divac said on Jay Mohr’s podcast. “So, all those teams were winning teams, so we were very professional … we didn’t do any crazy stuff, we were focusing on the game.
“About gambling … we played cards and I would win a lot of money, but my principle was never to take money from my teammates. So, I would find, if you lose the money, I would find a way, I said, ‘Jay, go do this and that,’ and we’re even. So that was my game.”
Poker Games And NBA Stars Go Hand-In-Hand
Card games and gambling are a regular part of life on the road for many NBA teams, but not many players probably took the same course of action as Divac. The approach apparently helped the star build camaraderie with teammates.
Divac went on to score 13,398 points, 9,326 rebounds, and 1,631 blocks in an NBA career that also included stints with the Charlotte Hornets and Sacramento Kings.
Michael Jordan was also well-known for his poker sessions. In 2024, former New York Knicks player and ESPN commentator Mark Jackson spoke about a marathon game he played with the Bulls legend.
Hellmuth Regrets Missing Poker Game With Jordan
In 2023, 17-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth detailed his own missed opportunity to play against Jordan. On the NESN Chicken Dinner Podcast, Hellmuth described meeting the six-time NBA champion and five-time league MVP several times, one of which included a poker challenge. Hellmuth had to decline the offer on that occasion.
“He challenged me once and I didn’t have a lot of money in town,” Hellmuth said. “I was stupid. I should have just called my friends and said, ‘Hey, (send me some money).’ And (Jordan) would have wanted to play until seven in the morning.”
Seven-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Arieh got a chance to play Jordan in 2021, but he didn’t enjoy the experience.
“I grew up with Jordan being the end-all, the GOAT,” he told Card Player’s Poker Stories podcast. “A friend of mine called me and asked if I wanted to play golf with Jordan with some poker afterwards … and it was a miserable experience. There were probably 15 carts of people following us around. He was just this big, over-the-top alpha male.
“But then we played poker, and that was more my element, so I thought it was going to be different. But it wasn’t. The stupid jokes just kept on coming. Every time he said anything, even if it wasn’t remotely funny, the whole place would erupt into laughter. I didn’t enjoy it a bit.”
NBA Poker Scandals
Playing poker games on the road is much different than some of the allegations recently levied against some NBA players and coaches. Former star and podcast host Gilbert Arenas was arrested last year by federal authorities for allegedly operating an illegal gambling scheme. He has pleaded not guilty.
Those illegal gambling operations allegedly included high-stakes poker games at Arenas’ mansion in Encino, California.
In October, former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chuancey Billups was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly being part of a high-stakes poker cheating operation that was run by members of New York’s organized crime families. He has also pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering and wire fraud.
