Before Kobe Bryant And Michael Jordan, There Was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

By Christopher Ebuka

22 March 2018 | 4:00 pm

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player who was born on April 16, 1947. He played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers his career as a centre, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a…

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player who was born on April 16, 1947. He played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers his career as a centre, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two as an assistant coach, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP.

On this day in 1972, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was named NBA MVP.

In 1996, he was honoured as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. NBA coach Pat Riley and players Isiah Thomas and Julius Erving have called him the greatest basketball player of all time.

At the time of his retirement in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA‘s all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played (1,560), minutes played (57,446), field goals made (15,837), field goal attempts (28,307), blocked shots (3,189), defensive rebounds (9,394), career wins (1,074), and personal fouls (4,657). He remains the all-time leader in points scored and career wins. He is ranked third all-time in both rebounds and blocks.

In 2007, ESPN voted him the greatest centre of all time. In 2008, they named him the greatest player in college basketball history, and in 2016, they named him the second best player in NBA history behind Michael Jordan. Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, and a best-selling author.

In 2012, he was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a US global cultural ambassador. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.