How Long Did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Play In The NBA?
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played an incredible 20 seasons in the league. Here’s a look at his unbelievable career.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA Career
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He played in the NBA for 20 seasons, winning six NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar was also a six-time NBA MVP and a 19-time NBA All-Star. In this article, we’ll take a look at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career.
Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the first overall pick in the 1969 NBA draft. He played for the Bucks for six seasons, winning an NBA championship in 1971. In 1975, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played for the next fourteen seasons. Abdul-Jabbar won five more NBA championships with the Lakers, making him the only player to win an NBA championship with two different teams. He also won a record six MVP awards, four of them coming with the Lakers. He retired from the NBA in 1989 as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points.
Won six NBA championships
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in the NBA for twenty years, from 1969 to 1989. He played for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers, winning six NBA championships with the Lakers. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points.
Scored the most points in NBA history
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He played in the NBA for 20 seasons, scoring a total of 38,387 points. Abdul-Jabbar’s highest scoring season was the 1971-72 season, when he averaged 31.7 points per game. He was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player six times.
Abdul-Jabbar’s Post-NBA Career
After retiring from the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar became a basketball coach. He was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers from 1985 to 1988. He also coached the team at Alcorn State University from 1993 to 1997. In addition to coaching, Abdul-Jabbar has also been a spokesperson for several companies.
Served as head coach of the Clippers
After his final game with the Lakers in 1989, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became head coach of the Clippers, where he coached for three seasons. He then took a break from coaching to pursue other interests, such as writing and acting. In 2000, he made a comeback to coaching as an assistant coach for the Lakers. He remained with the team until 2005.
Appeared in numerous films and TV shows
After his retirement from the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared in numerous films and television shows. He had roles in such films as “Airplane!” (1980), “Fletch” (1985), “Double Impact” (1991) and “Game of Death” (1978). He also guest-starred on episodes of “diff’rent Strokes,” “21 Jump Street” and “Murder, She Wrote.” In addition, Abdul-Jabbar served as a basketball coach in the feature film “The Wildcpphins” (1993).
Wrote several books
After his basketball career, Abdul-Jabbar became an actor, appearing in several movies and TV shows, including the popular sitcom “Airplane!” He also wrote several books, including a 2015 memoir titled “Writings on the Wall.”
Abdul-Jabbar’s Legacy
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a basketball legend. He played in the NBA for 20 seasons, was a 19-time All-Star, and is the league’s all-time leading scorer. He won six NBA championships, five MVP Awards, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995. Abdul-Jabbar’s legacy extends far beyond the basketball court.
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.; April 16, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two more as an assistant coach, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996, he was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. NBA coach Pat Riley and players Isiah Thomas and Julius Erving have called him the greatest basketball player of all time.
After winning 71 consecutive basketball games on his high school team in New York City, Alcindor was recruited by just about every college basketball program in the nation. He chose to attend UCLA because of its “academic reputation and its coaching style”. As a freshman during the 1967–68 season, he led the Bruins to an undefeated record and national championship. The following year he published Kareem: Autobiography of a Hero, which detailed his life both on and off the court; included were stories of his childhood struggles with racism and poverty as well as anecdotes about teammates such as Lew Alcindor Sr., Magic Johnson, Bill Walton, and Lucius Allen. His classmates at UCLA included Al Franken; they socialized together off campus as well. Just before graduation in 1969 he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the suggestion of some friends, who thought it sounded more musically intense than Lew Alcindor.
Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History
Abdul-Jabbar was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during the 1996–97 season, his 20th and final in the league. In 2000, he was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the top five basketball players of all time. In 2004, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is regarded as one of the best basketball players of all time. During his 20-year career with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers, he won six NBA championships, was a 19-time All-Star, and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player six times. He also holds the record for the most points scored in a career, with 38,387.
In December 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Abdul-Jabbar the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, “for being an outspoken champion for social justice.”