- Wikipedia

{"parse":{"title":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar","pageid":16899,"text":{"*":"

For the American football player formerly known as Karim Abdul-Jabbar, see Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar.

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Personal information
Abdul-Jabbar in 2014
Born	(1947-04-16) April 16, 1947 (age 77) New York City, New York, U.S.
Listed height	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Listed weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school	Power Memorial (New York City, New York)
College	UCLA (1966\u20131969)
NBA draft	1969: 1st round, 1st overall pick
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career	1969\u20131989
Position	Center
Number	33
Coaching career	1998\u20132011
Career history
As player:
1969\u20131975	Milwaukee Bucks
1975\u20131989	Los Angeles Lakers
As coach:
1998\u20131999	Alchesay HS (assistant)
2000	Los Angeles Clippers (assistant)
2002	Oklahoma Storm
2005\u20132011	Los Angeles Lakers (assistant)
\n
Career highlights and awards
\n 6\u00d7 NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988) \n 2\u00d7 NBA Finals MVP (1971, 1985) \n 6\u00d7 NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980) \n 19\u00d7 NBA All-Star (1970\u20131977, 1979\u20131989) \n 10\u00d7 All-NBA First Team (1971\u20131974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986) \n 5\u00d7 All-NBA Second Team (1970, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1985) \n 5\u00d7 NBA All-Defensive First Team (1974, 1975, 1979\u20131981) \n 6\u00d7 NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970, 1971, 1976\u20131978, 1984) \n NBA Rookie of the Year (1970) \n NBA All-Rookie First Team (1970) \n 2\u00d7 NBA scoring champion (1971, 1972) \n NBA rebounding leader (1976) \n 4\u00d7 NBA blocks leader (1975, 1976, 1979, 1980) \n NBA anniversary teams (35th, 50th, 75th) \n No. 33 retired by Milwaukee Bucks \n No. 33 retired by Los Angeles Lakers \n 3\u00d7 NCAA champion (1967\u20131969) \n 3\u00d7 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1967\u20131969) \n 3\u00d7 National college player of the year (1967\u20131969) \n 3\u00d7 Consensus first-team All-American (1967\u20131969) \n No. 33 retired by UCLA Bruins \n 2\u00d7 Mr. Basketball USA (1964, 1965) \n 3\u00d7 First-team Parade All-American (1963\u20131965) \n Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016) \n As head coach:\n \n USBL champion (2002) \n As assistant coach:\n \n 2\u00d7 NBA champion (2009, 2010) \n
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Career NBA statistics
Points	38,387 (24.6 ppg)
Rebounds	17,440 (11.2 rpg)
Assists	5,660 (3.6 apg)
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Stats at NBA.com $\"Edit$
Stats at Basketball Reference $\"Edit$

Basketball Hall of Fame
Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
\n

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (/k\u0259\u02c8ri\u02d0m \u00e6b\u02c8du\u02d0l d\u0292\u0259\u02c8b\u0251\u02d0r/ k\u0259-REEM ab-DOOL j\u0259-BAR; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. /\u00e6l\u02c8s\u026and\u0259r/ al-SIN-d\u0259r, April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins as a center. A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Abdul-Jabbar won a record six NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards. He was a 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA Team member, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection. He was a member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two more as an assistant coach, and was twice voted the NBA Finals MVP. He was named to three NBA anniversary teams (35th, 50th, and 75th).^[1] Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA players of all time,^[2] he has been called the greatest basketball player of all time by many of his contemporaries such as Pat Riley, Isiah Thomas, and Julius Erving.^[3]^[4]^[5] Abdul-Jabbar broke the NBA's career scoring record in 1984, and held it until LeBron James surpassed him in 2023.\n

Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lew Alcindor when he played at parochial high school Power Memorial in New York City, where he led their team to 71 consecutive wins. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national championships under head coach John Wooden. Alcindor was a record three-time most outstanding player of the NCAA tournament. Drafted with the first overall pick by the one-season-old Milwaukee Bucks franchise in the 1969 NBA draft, he spent six seasons with the team. After leading the Bucks to their first NBA championship at age 24 in 1971, he took the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Using his trademark skyhook shot, he established himself as one of the league's top scorers. In 1975, he was traded to the Lakers, with whom he played the final 14 seasons of his career, during which time the team won five NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar's contributions were a key component in the Showtime era of Lakers basketball. Over his 20-year NBA career, his teams reached the playoffs 18 times and got past the first round 14 times; his teams reached the NBA Finals ten times.^[1]^[6]\n

At the time of his retirement at age 42 in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA's regular season career leader in points (38,387), games played (1,560), minutes (57,446), field goals made (15,837), field goal attempts (28,307), blocked shots (3,189), defensive rebounds (9,394), and personal fouls (4,657). He remains the all-time leader in minutes played and field goals made. He ranks second in career points and field goal attempts, and is third all-time in both total rebounds (17,440) and blocked shots.^[7] ESPN named him the greatest center of all time in 2007,^[8] the greatest player in college basketball history in 2008,^[9] and the second best player in NBA history (behind Michael Jordan) in 2016.^[10] Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, a best-selling author, and a martial artist, having trained in Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee and appeared in his film Game of Death (1972).^[11] In 2012, Abdul-Jabbar was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador.^[12] In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.^[13]\n

\n\n

GP\n	Games played\n	GS \n	Games started\n	MPG \n	Minutes per game\n
FG% \n	Field goal percentage\n	3P% \n	3-point field goal percentage\n	FT% \n	Free throw percentage\n
RPG \n	Rebounds per game\n	APG \n	Assists per game\n	SPG \n	Steals per game\n
BPG \n	Blocks per game\n	PPG \n	Points per game\n	Bold \n	Career high\n
\u2020 \n	Won an NBA championship	\" \n	Led the league	\u2021 \n	NBA record\n

Year\n	Team\n	GP\n	GS\n	MPG\n	FG%\n	3P%\n	FT%\n	RPG\n	APG\n	SPG\n	BPG\n	PPG\n
1969\u201370\n	Milwaukee\n	82\"	\u2014	43.1	.518	\u2014	.653	14.5	4.1	\u2014	\u2014	28.8\n
1970\u201371\u2020\n	Milwaukee\n	82	\u2014	40.1	.577	\u2014	.690	16.0	3.3	\u2014	\u2014	31.7\"\n
1971\u201372\n	Milwaukee\n	81	\u2014	44.2	.574	\u2014	.689	16.6	4.6	\u2014	\u2014	34.8\"\n
1972\u201373\n	Milwaukee\n	76	\u2014	42.8	.554	\u2014	.713	16.1	5.0	\u2014	\u2014	30.2\n
1973\u201374\n	Milwaukee\n	81	\u2014	43.8	.539	\u2014	.702	14.5	4.8	1.4	3.5	27.0\n
1974\u201375\n	Milwaukee\n	65	\u2014	42.3	.513	\u2014	.763	14.0	4.1	1.0	3.3\"	30.0\n
1975\u201376\n	L.A. Lakers\n	82	82	41.2	.529	\u2014	.703	16.9\"	5.0	1.5	4.1\"	27.7\n
1976\u201377\n	L.A. Lakers\n	82	82	36.8	.579\"	\u2014	.701	13.3	3.9	1.2	3.2	26.2\n
1977\u201378\n	L.A. Lakers\n	62	\u2014	36.5	.550	\u2014	.783	12.9	4.3	1.7	3.0	25.8\n
1978\u201379\n	L.A. Lakers\n	80	\u2014	39.5	.577	\u2014	.736	12.8	5.4	1.0	4.0\"	23.8\n
1979\u201380\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	82	\u2014	38.3	.604	.000	.765	10.8	4.5	1.0	3.4\"	24.8\n
1980\u201381\n	L.A. Lakers\n	80	\u2014	37.2	.574	.000	.766	10.3	3.4	.7	2.9	26.2\n
1981\u201382\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	76	76	35.2	.579	.000	.706	8.7	3.0	.8	2.7	23.9\n
1982\u201383\n	L.A. Lakers\n	79	79	32.3	.588	.000	.749	7.5	2.5	.8	2.2	21.8\n
1983\u201384\n	L.A. Lakers\n	80	80	32.8	.578	.000	.723	7.3	2.6	.7	1.8	21.5\n
1984\u201385\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	79	79	33.3	.599	.000	.732	7.9	3.2	.8	2.1	22.0\n
1985\u201386\n	L.A. Lakers\n	79	79	33.3	.564	.000	.765	6.1	3.5	.8	1.6	23.4\n
1986\u201387\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	78	78	31.3	.564	.333	.714	6.7	2.6	.6	1.2	17.5\n
1987\u201388\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	80	80	28.9	.532	.000	.762	6.0	1.7	.6	1.2	14.6\n
1988\u201389\n	L.A. Lakers\n	74	74	22.9	.475	.000	.739	4.5	1.0	.5	1.1	10.1\n
Career^[7]\n	1,560	789	36.8	.559	.056	.721	11.2	3.6	.9	2.6	24.6\n
All-Star^[7]\n	18	13	24.9	.493	.000	.820	8.3	2.8	.4	2.1\u2021	13.9\n

Year\n	Team\n	GP\n	GS\n	MPG\n	FG%\n	3P%\n	FT%\n	RPG\n	APG\n	SPG\n	BPG\n	PPG\n
1970\n	Milwaukee\n	10	\u2014	43.5	.567	\u2014	.733	16.8	4.1	\u2014	\u2014	35.2\n
1971\u2020\n	Milwaukee\n	14	\u2014	41.2	.515	\u2014	.673	17.0	2.5	\u2014	\u2014	26.6\n
1972\n	Milwaukee\n	11	\u2014	46.4	.437	\u2014	.704	18.2	5.1	\u2014	\u2014	28.7\n
1973\n	Milwaukee\n	6	\u2014	46.0	.428	\u2014	.543	16.2	2.8	\u2014	\u2014	22.8\n
1974\n	Milwaukee\n	16	\u2014	47.4	.557	\u2014	.736	15.8	4.9	1.3	2.4	32.2\n
1977\n	L.A. Lakers\n	11	\u2014	42.5	.607	\u2014	.725	17.7	4.1	1.7	3.5	34.6\n
1978\n	L.A. Lakers\n	3	\u2014	44.7	.521	\u2014	.556	13.7	3.7	.7	4.0	27.0\n
1979\n	L.A. Lakers\n	8	\u2014	45.9	.579	\u2014	.839	12.6	4.8	1.0	4.1	28.5\n
1980\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	15	\u2014	41.2	.572	\u2014	.790	12.1	3.1	1.1	3.9	31.9\n
1981\n	L.A. Lakers\n	3	\u2014	44.7	.462	\u2014	.714	16.7	4.0	1.0	2.7	26.7\n
1982\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	14	\u2014	35.2	.520	\u2014	.632	8.5	3.6	1.0	3.2	20.4\n
1983\n	L.A. Lakers\n	15	\u2014	39.2	.568	.000	.755	7.7	2.8	1.1	3.7	27.1\n
1984\n	L.A. Lakers\n	21	\u2014	36.5	.555	\u2014	.750	8.2	3.8	1.1	2.1	23.9\n
1985\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	19	19	32.1	.560	\u2014	.777	8.1	4.0	1.2	1.9	21.9\n
1986\n	L.A. Lakers\n	14	14	34.9	.557	\u2014	.787	5.9	3.5	1.1	1.7	25.9\n
1987\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	18	18	31.1	.530	.000	.795	6.8	2.0	.4	1.9	19.2\n
1988\u2020\n	L.A. Lakers\n	24	24	29.9	.464	.000	.789	5.5	1.5	.6	1.5	14.1\n
1989\n	L.A. Lakers\n	15	15	23.4	.463	\u2014	.721	3.9	1.3	.3	.7	11.1\n
Career^[7]\n	237	90	37.3	.533	.000	.740	10.5	3.2	1.0	2.4	24.3\n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Japan Italy Australia Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Poland Israel
Academics	CiNii
Artists	MusicBrainz Emmy Awards
People	Trove Deutsche Biographie DDB
Other	IdRef SNAC

Early life

College career

School records

Professional career

Milwaukee Bucks (1969\u20131975)

Rookie of the Year (1969\u20131970)

First championship, MVP, and Finals MVP (1970\u20131971)

MVP recognition and trade request (1971\u20131975)

Los Angeles Lakers (1975\u20131989)

Fourth and fifth MVP awards (1975\u20131977)

Playoff disappointments (1977\u20131979)

Last MVP award and championship success (1979\u20131985)

Final playing years and sixth ring (1985\u20131989)

Coaching career

Player profile

Skyhook

Legacy

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Athletic honors

Film and television

Writing

Documentaries

Reality television

Writing and activism

Government appointments

Cultural ambassador

President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition

Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee

Personal life

Religion and name

Health problems

Non-athletic honors

Works

Books

Audio book

Notes

References

External links

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Talks

Timelines