Divac’s Military Status Remains Confusing Issue

Vlade Divac is that rare basketball player who has been drafted twice: Once by the Lakers in the first round of the National Basketball Assn. draft in June and now, apparently, by the Yugoslav army.

There is considerable confusion regarding the military status of the newest Laker, however, and even after calls to the Yugoslav consulate, his status--as a basketball player or foot soldier--is not clear.

Divac, 21, is subject to his country’s military draft, as is every Yugoslav male between the ages of 18 and 27, according to Zeljko Arsenijevic, deputy consul at the Yugoslav consulate in San Francisco.

Divac has reportedly been receiving yearly deferments, postponing--but not erasing--his military obligation. For a sports figure of Divac’s stature in Yugoslavia, that is not unusual.

“This happens in many special cases,” Arsenijevic said Monday. “Many students and athletes are overseas and they put this off. We make many special cases for our world-class athletes. But the problem with Vlade is that once he was drafted (by the army) you can’t put it off anymore. Once they have assigned you to a post, it is impossible to get a deferment.”

But according to Divac’s agent, Marc Fleisher, the deferment was already issued for this year.

“Between the time Vlade was drafted by the Lakers and the time he signed, he went to the appropriate authorities and renewed his deferment,” Fleisher said from New York.

According to a newspaper report in Belgrade, however, Divac’s deferment was rescinded and he is to report to a barracks in Trebinje by Sept. 19 or face a three-year jail term for desertion.

By the reckoning of some, this episode might just be a misunderstanding, certainly not unheard of in diplomatic circles.

According to one theory, Yugoslav basketball officials, already stung by the loss of their best player, believe that Divac would not be released to play for Yugoslavia in international and Olympic competition.

But according to his agent, Divac will be released for international competition.

“It is very possible that the whole thing may be because they haven’t seen his contract yet,” Laker publicist Josh Rosenfeld said. “We are going to let him play for the national team. Maybe they don’t realize that’s part of the contract. That’s all there is to it.”

Fleisher said that a release agreement has already been worked out with Divac’s club team, Partizan of Belgrade.

But it seems obvious that in this new era of truly international sports, contract negotiations have become more complicated.

And nobody still is quite sure whether Divac will be shooting baskets or a rifle this fall.