[6] Dalipagić started playing basketball at the age of 19, and one year later he signed his first professional contract with Partizan, in 1971.

During that season, he played with Reyer Venezia, of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A league.

In the following seasons, he played for numerous European teams, including Real Madrid, of the Spanish Primera División, during the 1982–83 season, in which he only played with the club in FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague) games.

He finished his professional career after the 1990–91 season, in which he played with Partizan's arch-rivals, Crvena zvezda.

[citation needed] Dalipagić debuted for senior the Yugoslavian national basketball team, in 1973.

[9] As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, he also won three gold medals at the EuroBasket.

A three-time Olympian, Dalipagić was instrumental in the Yugoslavian team's capturing of the gold, at the 1980 Summer Olympics.