“Punching Kent Nelson broke my hand”: Lakers legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar defends himself on why he punched a rookie 2 minutes into his NBA career
The Lakers legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar always fought hard on the court. After getting bullied by Wilt Chamberlain in his rookie year, Kareem roughed up a rookie a few years later.
Even after being the top scorer of the league for 27 years and counting, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is ignored in ‘Greatest of all time’ conversations. The mighty center of the Lakers has been so humble since his retirement that he doesn’t even consider coming in between the debate of today’s generation about who’s the best between Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
But he wasn’t so humble during his playing days. The 7’2 giant came into the NBA when another giant Wilt Chamberlain who was the league’s face then. He had a budding friendship with Wilt even before making his debut.
But those friends turned into enemies once Kareem started challenging Wilt for championships, starting from his rookie year. Every match with Wilt was a war for Kareem from which both would come out bruised. Their back and forth exchanges in media after Wilt’s retirement were even uglier than their battles on the court.
Maybe because of his own hostile welcome in the league by his idol, Kareem welcomed a Big rookie in a hostile fashion himself.
Kareem punched a young rookie Kent Benson on his debut
Benson was a first overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft. The 6’11 rookie was just 2 minutes into the NBA when he decided to elbow the then-best player in the league. He caught Kareem in the gut-groin area during a tie-up in the paint.
Kareem felt the effects of the blow and went to the sidelines for a few seconds, he then came back to sucker punch Benson right in the face. And obviously the Indiana big man, in front of his home crowd, crashed on the floor immediately.
Kareem who also fancied Karate at the time talked to his former Showtime Lakers teammate Byron Scott on his podcast “Off The Dribble”,
“I was so sorry I did that, it broke my hand,” Kareem said. “It was a cheap shot, a sneaky shot. He did that because his coach, Don Nelson, told him to like rough me up if he was going to be successful. He just made himself a problem. Every time I saw him after that, I made sure he realized that I knew how to play.”
What an extravagant start the rookie had to his NBA career, from maybe idolizing Kareem before coming into the NBA to getting knocked out by him within minutes in his first game.
While Kent could never live up to the expectations of being a number 1 pick, Kareem ended up being one of the best to ever do it. The 6 time MVP won 6 titles in his 20 seasons, earning 19 All-Star appearances.
Benson’s ‘Welcome To The NBA’ moment, was probably his best career highlight.
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