Hall of Fame basketball center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He won six NBA titles, including five with the Los Angeles Lakers, in 20 years. Let’s find out the details to answer the question ” Who is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?” through the following article!

A standout basketball player in high school, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was recruited to play at UCLA and led the Bruins to three national championships. His dominance continued in the NBA , first with the Milwaukee Bucks and then the Los Angeles Lakers. Abdul-Jabbar won six titles and six MVP awards and finished as the league’s all-time leading scorer. He retired in 1989 and is widely considered one of the greatest players in NBA history. His talent was celebrated even in high school.

Childhood

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. on April 16, 1947, in New York. The only son of Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Sr., a New York City police officer, and his wife, Cora, Alcindor was always the tallest kid in his class. Known as Lew Alcindor, he was an impressive 5’8″ at age 9, and by the time he reached eighth grade, he had grown another foot and could shoot a basketball. He began practicing the sport at a very young age. At Power Memorial Academy, Alcindor had a high school career that few could match. He set New York City school records for scoring and rebounding, and led his team to an incredible 71 consecutive victories and three consecutive city championships. In 2000, National Sports Writers named Alcindor’s team the “#1 high school team of the century.”

Education and John Wooden

After graduating in 1965, Alcindor enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles. There, he continued his unprecedented dominance, becoming one of college football’s greatest players. Under legendary coach John Wooden, Alcindor led the Bruins to three national championships from 1967 to 1969 and was named National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament MVP in those years.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career

Milwaukee Bucks

In the spring of 1969, the Milwaukee Bucks, in their second year of existence, selected Alcindor with the first overall pick in the NBA draft. Alcindor quickly adapted to the professional game. He finished second in the league in scoring and third in rebounding, and was named rookie of the year. He also helped turn around the fortunes of his franchise. After a dismal 27-win season the year before, the revamped Bucks, with Alcindor at the helm, improved to 56-26.

The following season, the Bucks, after adding future Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson to their roster, took another big step forward. The team finished the regular season 66–16, then won the playoffs, defeating the Baltimore Bullets in the 1971 NBA Finals. That same year, Alcindor won his first Most Valuable Player Award, the first of six MVP honors he would receive during his long playing career.

Convert to Islam

Shortly after the end of the 1971 season, Alcindor converted to Islam and took the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which means “noble and mighty servant.” In 1974, Abdul-Jabbar again led the Bucks to the NBA Finals, where the team lost to the Boston Celtics.

Los Angeles Lakers

Even with all his on-court success as a Buck, Abdul-Jabbar struggled to find happiness off the court in his life in Milwaukee. “You live in Milwaukee, right?” he declared in his first magazine interview. “No, I guess you could say I exist in Milwaukee. I’m a soldier who serves, and I’m going to serve well. Basketball has given me a good life, but this city has nothing to do with my roots. There’s no common ground.”

After the 1975 season ended, Abdul-Jabbar requested a trade, asking Bucks management to send him to New York or Los Angeles. He was eventually sent west with a group of players, none of whom could bring to Milwaukee what Abdul-Jabbar would bring to the Lakers. Over the next 15 seasons, Abdul-Jabbar made Los Angeles a perennial winner. Beginning in the 1979–80 season, paired with rookie point guard Magic Johnson, the dominant center led the Lakers to five championship titles. His signature jump shot, the skyhook, became Abdul-Jabbar’s unstoppable offensive weapon, and the Lakers dominated the championship over Julius “Dr. J” Erving’s Philadelphia 76ers, Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, and Detroit’s Pistons.

Acting

His success on the court led to a number of acting opportunities. Abdul-Jabbar appeared in several films, including the 1979 martial arts film Game of Death and the comedy Airplane! In his 30s, he was still averaging more than 20 points per game. In his late 30s, he was still playing around 35 minutes per game. In the 1985 Finals against the Boston Celtics, which the Lakers won in six games, the 38-year-old Abdul-Jabbar was named MVP of the series.

Statistics

When Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989, he was the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points and became the first NBA player to play in 20 seasons. His career totals included 17,440 rebounds, 3,189 blocks and 1,560 games. He also broke the records for most points, most blocked shots and most MVP awards in 1989. Years after his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar seemed particularly proud of his longevity. “The ’80s made up for all the abuse I endured in the ’70s,” he told the Orange County Register. “I outlived all my detractors. By the time I retired, everyone considered me a respectable institution. Things had changed.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Personal Life

Since retiring, Abdul-Jabbar has not strayed far from the sport he loves, working for the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. He even spent a year coaching on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona—an experience he chronicled in his 2000 book A Season on the Reserved. He has written several other books, including 2007’s On the Shoulders of Giants, about the Harlem Renaissance. Abdul-Jabbar has also worked as a speaker and spokesperson for a number of products. In 1995, Abdul-Jabbar was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In November 2009, Abdul-Jabbar was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, but his long-term prognosis appeared favorable. In February 2011, doctors declared the retired NBA star cancer-free. Abdul-Jabbar was named the 2016 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by Barack Obama. Showing he was still fit to compete at age 71, the basketball legend joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars: Athletes in the spring of 2018, where he was paired with reigning champion Lindsay Arnold. He also continued to demonstrate his gift for persuasive argument, writing an essay exploring the complex issue of firing Roseanne Barr for her racist tweets and another highlighting the growing presence of socially conscious villains in popular entertainment. A father of five, Abdul-Jabbar has four 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren from his first marriage to Habiba Abdul-Jabbar and a son from another relationship.

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