A Look Back on the Greatest LA Lakers Players: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The Los Angeles Lakers, is still blazing the trail thanks to its dream team of highly-competent players. Every game played by this illustrious team has sold countless Lakers tickets as fans and viewers look forward to an action-packed series of sportsmanship. But before there was a Kobe Bryant or a Shaquille O’Neal who wowed fans with their speed and size, there was the Captain Skyhook, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who made fans and viewers swoon in their seats in every game the Lakers played in the not so distant past.
Personal profile
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the longest playing superstars of the NBA, having a career that spanned 20 years in the court. Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., he was the only child of a jazz musician father and a department store price-checker mother. He spent his formative years as the odd boy due to his height until Alcindor made waves on the court in high school and eventually played in the big leagues up to college. Before this 7-foot 2-inch slender giant hit the polished courts of the major leagues, he first built a good reputation in the NCAA by playing for the UCLA.
The Milwaukee Bucks Years
His first years of dribbling the ball professionally were spent with the then infamous Milwaukee Bucks, who were in the bottom tiers of the professional leagues. After drafting the lanky Alcindor, the Bucks experienced a revitalization. With the drafting of Oscar Robertson from the Cincinnati Royals, the team went on to make a record of 66 victories in the season of ’70-’71. Alcindor was awarded his first MVP award in his first year of playing professionally. In 1971, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After winning three MVPs in his five-year career, Abdul-Jabbar sought to be drafted to another team so that his cultural and spiritual needs can be met.
Years with the LA Lakers
The starting years
With his drafting to the LA Lakers in 1975, Abdul-Jabbar yet again was part of the new blood that infused the then ailing team. Abdul-Jabbar went on to win his fourth MVP award in his first season with the Lakers. With the following season, however, came new coach Jerry West who amped up the ante of the Lakers. Under his tutelage, Abdul-Jabbar helped make the team’s standing shoot upwards. It was in his seventh year of playing in the big leagues that Abdul-Jabbar won his fifth MVP award.
Playing with the Lakers
Abdul-Jabbar spent the rest of the late ’70s playing with the Lakers and delivering stellar performances that drew fans and viewers to purchase Lakers tickets just to see him do his awesome antics. In 1979, things started looking up when a fresh-faced Earvin “Magic” Johnson was drafted to the team from Michigan State University. Abdul-Jabbar teamed up with the future indomitable Magic Johnson. In the last ten years of his career, he got to display his best.
Abdul-Kareem’s twilight years
Though Abdul-Jabbar is strict when it comes to his physical training and health, signs of his age that slightly impeded his physical capabilities began to show. The 1980s saw him spraining his ankle and having the then 20-year-old Johnson taking over his place, after 33-year-old Abdul-Jabbar scored 40 points in the previous game for the Lakers. Though the twilight years were looming, these were the years that dazzled many fans as Captain Skyhook continue to perform well, along with Magic Johnson. The tandem contributed to the high LA Lakers ticket sales.
Abdul-Jabbar retired from the NBA in 1989.