Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lew Alcindor when he played at Power Memorial, a private Catholic high school in New York City, where he led their team to 71 consecutive wins. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national championships. Abdul-Jabbar was a record three-time most outstanding player of the NCAA tournament. Drafted with the first overall pick by the one-season-old Milwaukee Bucks franchise in the 1969 NBA draft, he spent six seasons with the team. After leading the Bucks to their first NBA championship at age 24 in 1971, he took the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Using his trademark skyhook shot, he established himself as one of the league's top scorers. In 1975, he was traded to the Lakers, with whom he played the final 14 seasons of his career, during which time the team won five NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar's contributions were a key component in the Showtime era of Lakers basketball. Over his 20-year NBA career, his teams reached the playoffs 18 times and reached the NBA Finals ten times.

In Their Own Story

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stood at the top of the key, eyes locked on the basket. The Boston Celtics defense surged forward, but he pivoted with practiced ease, raising his right arm in the familiar motion that had baffled defenders for decades. The skyhook arced through the air, unblockable as always, and dropped cleanly through the net. The crowd roared as the Lakers sealed their victory. Kareem didn't celebrate wildly; he simply turned back on defense, knowing this moment was his. At 38, he had just become the oldest player in NBA history to win Finals MVP, silencing critics who doubted a veteran center could still dominate. That night encapsulated his entire Lakers legacy: patience, precision, and poise under pressure. From his first trade from Milwaukee in 1975 to his final season in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the constant force behind five championships. His skyhook wasn't just a shot; it was a symbol of enduring greatness.

Reader's Guide

At the time of his retirement at age 42 in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA's regular season career leader in points (38,387), games played (1,560), minutes (57,446), field goals made (15,837), field goal attempts (28,307), blocked shots (3,189), defensive rebounds (9,394), and personal fouls (4,657). He ranks second in career points, minutes played and field goal attempts, and is third all-time in both total rebounds (17,440) and blocked shots. ESPN named him the greatest center of all time in 2007, the greatest player in college basketball history in 2008, and the second best player in NBA history (behind Michael Jordan) in 2016. Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, a best-selling author, and a martial artist, having trained in Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee and appeared in his film Game of Death (1972). He also appeared in Airplane! as Roger Murdock, a pilot who is repeatedly mistaken for Abdul-Jabbar. In 2012, Abdul-Jabbar was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Did You Know?

• Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. in Harlem, New York City.
• He grew up in the Dyckman Street projects in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan.
• By the eighth grade, he had grown to 6 ft 8 in and could already dunk a basketball.
• He wore jersey number 33 in tribute to New York Giants fullback Mel Triplett.
• The dunk was banned in college basketball after his sophomore season, a rule critics called the 'Alcindor Rule'.