Magic Johnson and Hakeem Olajuwon are basketball icons that had a brief overlap in the league during their careers.
NBA pros would have legendary offseason scrimmage sessions back in the ’80s and Magic Johnson would primarily run those games at UCLA. Once Hakeem was late for a run and Johnson explained the all-time block leader’s reaction.
(58:01) “Every great player came to UCLA to play. Moses Malone, you name it, Dominique, Isiah, Mark Agguire, you name them, they all came to run. I remember Hakeem came and Hakeem was late. We had a rule that you can’t get on a team if you came after a certain time because there were so many NBA players there. I said, ‘man I’m sorry, they already got their teams and we playing’.
“He got so mad that the next day when he came, he must’ve blocked like 20 shots. He was so upset. He said, ‘Magic, I just want to play and you didn’t let me play’. He just dominated the action and that’s how great the pickup games were back then.”
Hakeem Olajuwon is arguably the greatest shot-blocker the league has ever seen and is a candidate for the greatest defender to play in the NBA. This story reminds modern fans of the extreme competitiveness with which old NBA stars played, as Olajuwon showed his frustrations by dominating a star group of players from his era in a no-stakes practice run.
Hakeem Olajuwon Is One Of The NBA’s Greatest Centers Ever
When Michael Jordan retired for the 1993-94 season, everybody wondered who was gonna rise to the top in the NBA without Jordan. The man that went No. 1 overall ahead of Jordan stepped up as Hakeem led the Houston Rockets to the NBA title. He repeated in 1995 by beating Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic, who had eliminated Jordan’s Bulls on their way to the Finals.
Olajuwon averaged 21.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks for his NBA career and sits firmly as the league’s all-time blocks leader. The Defensive Player of the Year trophy was renamed in Olajuwon’s honor this season, proving his impact on the game was significant. Players like Shaq maintain he’s in the conversation of the greatest center in the league’s history, though the competition for that title is littered with some of the NBA’s greats.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
