There isn’t much that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn’t achieve during his time in the NBA. He won 6 NBA titles, 2 Finals MVPs, a record 6 MVPs, and still remains the all-time leading scorer in league history.
He did a lot of it while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers as well, so you would assume that Kareem would have been a very popular figure among fans, but that wasn’t the case. Jeff Pearlman, author of Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, once sat down for an interview with GQ, where he was asked why fans had such a hard time liking Abdul-Jabbar.
via GQ:
“Well, he treated them like liquid crap. Repeatedly, and without fail. The Lakers used to fly commercial, so they’d be in the airports among the people. One after another, folks would approach, asking for autographs. Magic signed and signed. Cooper signed and signed. Mike Smrek, Billy Thompson, Earl Jones, Mark Landsberger—all signed, and signed with a smile. Kareem told people to bug off, to get away. He hid in bathroom stalls, sitting on the toilets with a book. I don’t entirely blame him—he was a museum piece for years, poked and prodded and ridiculed. He faced tons of racism, was taunted with “Lou … Lou” years after changing his name. It wasn’t easy. But he never adjusted, and there’s a reason he could never land a real NBA gig, despite being very intelligent and accomplished.”
Kareem certainly wasn’t the most approachable person in the world, and growing up at a time when racial tensions were so high in the U.S., probably had a part to play in him being that way. Still, one must change with the times, something Kareem wasn’t interested in. He also ruffled some feathers when he changed his name and converted to Islam in 1968. All of it perhaps has a role to play in why Kareem doesn’t always get the respect he deserves for all that he accomplished on the court.
NBA Analyst Says Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Should Be In The GOAT Debate
Analyst Rick Kamla recently claimed that Kareem is the most disrespected all-time great. He said that Kareem should be mentioned alongside LeBron James and Michael Jordan in the GOAT debate as it is a three-guy race. Kamla believes that Kareem is often overlooked here, which is a shame considering all of his accomplishments.
Some former players also have Kareem as their GOAT, with Julius Erving being one of them. Paul Pierce also wondered why Kareem isn’t regarded as the greatest and told people to rethink when it comes to this talk.
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