Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s longevity and scoring records made him into one of the GOATs of basketball. But what made him as good as he was towards the end of his two-decade career? His iconic trainer Gary Vitti, who was with the Los Angeles Lakers for 32 years, and saw them win eight championships while working with legendary players.
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By the time Vitti had gotten to the Lakers in 1984, Abdul-Jabbar was nearing the twilight of his career. The big man was 37, and Vitti’s primary task was keeping him on the court for championship runs.
To Vitti’s luck, though, Kareem was already an amazingly durable player for his size. That’s why when Vitti first got to the Lakers, he joked that he never had to get near Abdul-Jabbar.
“I stayed away from him,” Vitti joked on Byron Scott’s Fast Break. “We had a great relationship. To be perfectly honest, Kareem was never injured.”
In ‘84, Kareem ended up only missing three games. The same went for the next season, and then he only missed four in 1986. In ‘87, at age 40, he played in 80 games. Then, at 41, he wrapped up his career by missing only eight games.
So, all in all, Vitti didn’t have to do much when it came to keeping Abdul-Jabbar healthy. But there was one tiny issue that seemed to always persist with the legend.
“The only other thing was the migraines. So, that’s kind of where I came in. And he told me that the only thing that seemed to help him was pure oxygen,” Vitti shared.
It was an interesting remedy for the sickness. After all, there is no scientific basis linking pure oxygen as a treatment for migraines. But according to Vitti, it worked wonders with Kareem.
That’s why the trainer worked tirelessly to ensure that every hotel that the Lakers traveled to had a mask with pure oxygen just in case Abdul-Jabbar got sick.
“I don’t think he used it more than once or twice,” Viti revealed. “It might’ve been the knowledge that it was there just in case… I made sure that he saw it, and as far as he was concerned, if he needed it, it was there.”
Kareem actually ended up suffering from a major migraine attack upon Vitti’s first arrival on the team in ‘84. He got six of them in the span of just nine days. It almost kept Abdul-Jabbar from playing in the NBA Finals. But he powered through and led the Lakers to a title.
At the end of the day, Vitti didn’t have to do much with Kareem when it came to health. Yet his effort to keep the center covered in the event of something happening goes to show how good he was at his job. It’s why he was considered one of the greatest trainers for three decades and worked with LA for so long.
