One of the 15 greatest players of all time Julius Erving reveals that Wes Unseld was the lone player to unsettle Wilt Chamberlain.
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Wilt Chamberlain could score at will and grab every rebound he wanted to. So, it is quite tough to believe that he feared someone on the court.
But it is true.
Wilt Chamberlain played in the NBA for 14 seasons but is mostly known for his time with the 76ers. He even scored 100 points in a single game for them. He was arguably the most dominant player in the history of the NBA.
Julius Erving reveals that Wes Unseld was the only NBA player to intimidate Wilt Chamberlain
Julius Erving recently appeared on the well-known podcast Knuckleheads and disclosed the one man “Wilt the Stilt” feared in the NBA. It turned out to be Wes Unseld.
Julius Erving revealed that Washington Bullets great Wes Unseld never backed down against Wilt. He goes on to say –
“I knew Unseld would hurt you without even blinking. He would take courage from the other players on your team because they wouldn’t even come to your rescue.”
“Might not even come pick you up because they gonna get hit by him too..”
He further recalled –
“So, he was the only guy Wilt was scared of in the league. I always heard that before I got over to the league.”
While recalling his all-time favorite dunk on Wes’ teammate Elvin Hayes, Erving remembered how lucky he was that Wes Unseld choose not to hurt him for dunking on this teammate.
Is there some truth to this Statement? What do the numbers say?
Wes Unseld entered the NBA in the year 1968. He was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets. At the time, Wilt Chamberlain was on the back on consecutive MVPs and was aged 32.
In 20 career matchups against the Bullets and Wes Unseld, Chamberlain scored just 19.0 points per game. That is miles away from Wilt’s usual superiority on the court. That’s some pretty nifty defense against the most dominant scorer to ever live.
It is very astonishing to learn that a dominant veteran like Wilt Chamberlain was scared to attack the rim against a 22-year-old rookie. This just speaks about how great of a defender Wes Unseld was back in the day.
Maybe this new information given by Dr. J might make more people put respect on Wes Unseld’s name. This also may enable some people to put forward Wes’ name in the greatest defender of all-time conversation.
