NBA’s probable GOAT statistics-wise, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is as insecure as anyone could be, but it’s not his fault. The man got overshadowed first by Magic Johnson and then Michael Jordan entirely.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the best resume in the history of the NBA. The 7’2 UCLA center came into the NBA after making a mockery out of college basketball for 3-straight years.
Kareem, who previously went by Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, can also be remembered as the best college basketball player of all time who made the NCAA ban dunking for more than a decade after Alcindor and UCLA’s dominance in his first year with the varsity team.
They went unbeaten (30-0) in his first and 88-3 in his 3-year college career. They won the NCAA championship thrice, with Alcindor winning all the most significant individual and team honours possible at the time.
He had developed another go-to shot as the college basketball banned dunking, the skyhook shot. He made it his own as soon as he came into the league.
That shot, with the way he created space at his height and wing span of over 8 feet, not only will allow him to be unguardable by almost everyone in the league but also give him some leeway in conserving those knees to have one of the longest and most lucrative careers in the NBA.
An unanswerable Sky-hook shot allowed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to save him some time and energy to be versatile
Imagine having a shot that even Wilt Chamberlain couldn’t block. We are talking about a player who probably has 2x more blocks than NBA’s official block leader (Hakeem Olajuwon) was dominated by a young slander, Kareem, who won his first Championship, MVP, Finals MVP, and scoring title all in his second year in the league with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Being the most dominant player of the 70s, he would go on to become a prominent member of the Los Angeles Lakers, also featuring future greats in Magic Johnson and James Worthy.
Playing 20 years in the league, winning 6 championships, 6x MVPs, 2x FMVPs, 2-scoring, 4-blocks, 1-rebounding title and making it 19 All-Star and 15 All-NBA teams, he made the most out of one go-to shot than any other star in the league. Being the superstar in LA made him a multi-millionaire. He currently has a net worth of 20-25 million USD.
Having achieved everything and finishing as NBA’s top scorer, top-3 rebounder and shot-blocker while playing in the league until he was 42, the man still rues about being the #1 scorer in the NBA without having a 3-point shot in his arsenal.
