Wilt Chamberlain Was Given a Peculiar Nickname By Hall of Fame Teammate Because of a Rather Unwelcome Habit

Wilt Chamberlain is popularly known as the Big Dipper in basketball circles. But his Lakers teammates had another nickname for him.

Wilt Chamberlain is a man whose numbers make him look like more of a myth than an actual person. After all, how the hell do you account for someone scoring triple digits in an NBA game?

Chamberlain arrived in the league as its most intimidating physical specimen and promptly put rivals on notice. His rookie campaign saw him average a whopping 37.6 points and 27 rebounds per game. He took away MVP honors, making him the first of only 2 rookies to do so.

In the seasons that followed, Chamberlain had the most statistically dominant run by any NBA player ever. The numbers for his campaigns read like alien scoreboards – 38.4 points, 27.2 rebounds per game in 60-61; 50.4 points, 25.7 rebounds in 61-62.

However, he didn’t win MVP in either of those seasons – mainly because of Bill Russell and his dominant Celtics. Russell put together a run of 3 straight MVPs along with championships to tilt the focus from the Big Dipper.

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Chamberlain retired with over 31,000 points to his name. His scoring record would stay intact until 1984, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpassed his total.

Teammates called Wilt Chamberlain ‘Big Musty’ because of his peculiar habits

When Wilt Chamberlain finally won a championship with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967, he exorcised a lot of his demons and succeeded in removing the ‘loser’ stain from his name.

After another season in Philly, Wilt decided that he wanted a change of scenery. He earned a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he made 3 NBA Finals and emerged victorious in 1971-72.

However, he didn’t always see eye to eye with his Lakers teammates and coaching staff. In particular, he beefed with head coach Butch van Breda Kolff.

Interestingly, he also had a habit of not showering immediately after games. He’d wait instead, to get home or to his hotel room to take a shower. This trait of his made Elgin Baylor jokingly call him ‘Big Musty’, for wearing his sweat-stained clothes home.

Despite this, Chamberlain maintained a cordial relationship with all of his teammates. He also took a step back on offense to allow Elgin and Jerry West to orchestrate play.

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