Divac Left Shellshocked by Attack on Homeland

SACRAMENTO —  As radio and television reports rolled in from Kosovo with news of the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia, Sacramento King center Vlade Divac scrambled to get in touch with his parents, who live “very near to the area in Kosovo where that is happening,” he said.

“I’m shaking,” he said. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it.”

Serbian born but now an American citizen and long ago settled with his wife and three children near Los Angeles, Divac has a brother, Ivica, still living in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, which he said is about 300 miles north of his parents’ home near the Kosovo border.

Barely an hour before he played--and scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists--in Wednesday night’s 92-91 victory over the New York Knicks, Divac shakily submitted to interview requests.

“I couldn’t speak with my parents because I couldn’t get through on the telephone line,” said Divac, who spent the first seven of his 10 NBA seasons with the Lakers. “But my brother called just a little while ago. He has been on the phone with my parents. They’re OK. They’re hearing bombs all over [the] place.”

Another member of the Kings, Predrag Stojakovic, is a native of Serbia, but learned that his parents are in Greece, where Stojakovic played pro ball for three years.