Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanted $35,000 from a movie producer to buy a rug!

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was an NBA juggernaut, a worthy champion both on and off the court but he was also a movie star in the 1908s!

It is no secret that Kareem was a man of the people. He is among the NBA’s most well-known and loved legends. The inventor of the skyhook, a 6-time champion, and an actor?

Yes, most of us will know him as a player but he was also a good actor. He was among the pioneers of bringing the world of sports into movies, especially sportspersons.

Abdul-Jabbar was in a movie with Bruce Lee! That speaks volumes about his legendary influence. But a picture you might be more familiar with is Kareem dressed up in a pilot’s suit.

That still was from a parody movie called Airplane which debuted in 1980. Kareem’s role was that of a pilot named Roger Murdock.

Allegedly, to star in the movie, Kareem wanted $5000 more than the original offer.

Also read: $1.1 Billion Knicks’ high-headed executives passed on 7’2″ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because of excessive pride

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Peter Graves at controls of “Airplane!” (1980) pic.twitter.com/Cpa0NCYUDB

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) October 10, 2020

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanted to buy a $35,000 rug and only decided to act in Airplane after getting that sum as his paycheck!

True story, the Lakers legend didn’t accept the role till he was given $5000 more. Jerry Zucker, a director for the movie elaborated on this and said

“When we offered the role to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I think we offered him $30,000 and then the agent asked for $35,000 because that was the cost of a rug that Kareem had his eyes on!”

“It was an oriental rug, an art piece, not one to walk on I don’t think, so our initial reaction was that has got to be the best line we’ve ever heard from an agent we were like “Boy this guy is really creative!”

Zucker told this story to the AV club. He continued “And true to his word, just a few weeks later, there is a picture on TIME Magazine with Kareem standing in front of his rug that he brought for $35,000 after we paid him”

Talk about a man with eccentric tastes and more than that, talk about a man that doesn’t lie about his demands. Kareem’s reputation has remained so because of his honesty and his straightforward attitude.

We hope that we can continue to bring more stories like this to life, so stay tuned to this space for more snippets from the eccentric life of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“Tell your old man to drag Walton & Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.”

The comedy classic AIRPLANE with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) was released 42 years ago today! pic.twitter.com/Iwu6jCLMTv

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) July 2, 2022

Also read: “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has more seasons with a top 5 MVP vote-getter than Michael Jordan”: Nick Wright explains how the 7’2” Lakers icon is better than the 6’6” Bulls GOAT