He started his sports career by playing soccer in his hometown Mostar, training with the Velež team. He initially played as a center-back in soccer, earning him the nickname he still carries today – Praja. He later transitioned to handball and only began playing basketball with the Mostar-based Lokomotiva at the age of eighteen, influenced by his older brother. Just two years later, in 1971, he joined Partizan, and by 1973, he had already won his first medal at the European Championship in Spain.
During his time at Partizan, he played 305 games and scored 8,278 points, with an average of 33.7 points per game, a record that remains unmatched in the club’s rich history to this day, even after more than 30 years. He also played for Real Madrid, Udinese, Venice (where he set a record of 70 points against Virtus Bologna), Verona, and concluded his career in the Red Star jersey.
He played 246 games for the Yugoslav national team. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, he won a silver medal, and at the following Olympics in Moscow in 1980, he secured a gold medal. In the 1974 World Championship in Puerto Rico, the Yugoslav national team, in which he played, finished second, and four years later, at the World Championship in Manila, they won gold, with Dalipagić being named the tournament’s best player. The same team took third place at the 1982 World Championship in Colombia and won a silver medal at the 1981 European Championship. He had the honor of carrying the flag for Yugoslavia at the opening of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and later, he won a bronze medal.
In January 2005, he became a member of the global Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, and in September 2007, he was inducted into the European Hall of Fame.
