If there’s any one person in NBA history to be seen as a mythical figure apart from Michael Jordan, it is Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt was an anomaly ever since he stepped foot in the league, with his near godlike athleticism leaving defenses in awe. He went on to set a plethora of records in the NBA, some of which have yet to be broken to this day, nearly 52 years after his retirement.
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Of course, the younger generation of players and fans still look at Chamberlain’s resume with some skepticism, largely because of the overall lack of proof for certain feats (his 100 point game springs to mind), but the players who were lucky enough to witness him know for a fact he was every bit fantastical as described.
Olden Polynice, best known for his time with the Kings, told Byron Scott that he’d actually hung out with Wilt, and confirmed yet another set of rumors that float around about Wilt the Stilt.
On Scott’s ‘Fastbreak‘ podcast, the Haitian center claimed that he and Wilt would party at times, and revealed that most of their time partying would consist of alcoholic beverages.
“Got drunk! Got drunk! Oh my god, listen. He is the biggest human being I’ve ever met. Now people look at Shaq and like, Wilt Chamberlain, there was something so weird,” he laughed.
“Wilt Chamberlain was so mythical. He was like Paul Bunyan. And we were like drinking, and it’s like I know I got drunk, I don’t think he got drunk,” he added.
And the tales of his mythical tolerance to alcohol don’t just stop there. Remember the aforementioned 100-point game? Well, rumor has it that Chamberlain partied in NYC the entire night before the game, traveled to Philadelphia where it was set to be played, and then proceeded to put on the single most clinical scoring performance the NBA had, and will ever seen.
A lot of what Wilt got up to during his prime has seen some criticism today- his playboy lifestyle, a refusal to believe some of the statistics he put up (on the court or off it), and a general disdain for people who still talk about him like he was a mystical figure.
Whatever the case may be, Wilt will always be a part of the NBA’s wall of heroes. Maybe we just need to accept what his peers and juniors say about him, and just live with the fact that the greatest athlete that the NBA ever saw played in the ’60s and ’70s.
