Known as “The Captain,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put together one of the greatest basketball résumés the sport has ever seen. Kareem is the NBA’s all-time leader in MVP awards with six, a six-time NBA champion, a two-time Finals MVP, a 19-time All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time All-Defensive selection. He retired as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points, a record that stood for nearly four decades.
But simply listing Kareem’s accomplishments doesn’t really explain how dominant he was. Before Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, or Shaquille O’Neal became faces of the league, Kareem was one of basketball’s defining superstars. And then there was the shot that defined him: the skyhook, arguably the most unstoppable shot basketball has ever seen. Everyone knew Kareem wanted to get to it, and defenses spent years trying to stop it. It still didn’t matter. Standing 7-foot-2 with incredible length, Kareem would turn toward the basket, extend his shooting arm high above the defender and release the ball with tremendous touch.
Across 20 NBA seasons, Kareem averaged 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 55.9% from the field. His peak numbers were even more ridiculous. During his first six NBA seasons, Kareem averaged more than 30 points and 15 rebounds per game. In only his second season, he averaged 31.7 points and 16.0 rebounds while leading Milwaukee to an NBA championship. That 1971 Bucks team went 66-16, and Kareem won both regular-season MVP and Finals MVP as Milwaukee captured the first championship in franchise history.
This is an important part of Kareem’s career because younger fans often associate him primarily with Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers. Kareem was already an all-time great before Magic ever entered the NBA. By the time Magic was drafted in 1979, Kareem had already won five MVP awards, a championship, a Finals MVP and multiple scoring titles. Magic didn’t create Kareem’s greatness; he joined forces with a player who had already spent a decade establishing himself as one of the greatest players basketball had ever seen.
Together, they helped create something special. Kareem became one of the leaders of the Showtime Lakers, one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. Los Angeles reached the NBA Finals eight times during the 1980s and won five championships. And Kareem wasn’t simply along for the ride.
Perhaps the greatest example came in the 1985 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. Kareem was 38 years old, yet he averaged 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists in the series as the Lakers defeated Larry Bird’s Celtics in six games. Kareem was named Finals MVP. Most NBA players are retired or well past their prime by that age. Kareem was winning Finals MVP at 38 years old against one of the greatest teams of his era. The championship also made him the first player in NBA history to win Finals MVP with two different franchises, having previously won the award with Milwaukee in 1971.
His longevity is a huge part of why I have him this high. Kareem played 1,560 regular-season games and remained productive deep into his career. He held the NBA’s career scoring record for almost 39 years and retired as the league’s leader in several major longevity categories. Even today, his name remains near the top of numerous all-time statistical lists.
But somehow, his NBA career only tells half the story. Before Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became an NBA legend, Lew Alcindor may have been the greatest college basketball player of all time. At UCLA under legendary coach John Wooden, he went an unbelievable 88-2, won three consecutive NCAA championships, and became the only player ever to win the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award three times.
His dominance was so overwhelming that college basketball banned the dunk before his first varsity season. While the rule wasn’t officially created specifically because of Alcindor, his dominance was closely associated with the change. Instead of stopping him, it helped push Kareem toward developing the shot that would eventually become his greatest weapon: the skyhook.
That’s what makes Kareem’s overall basketball résumé so difficult to match. He dominated college basketball, entered the NBA and immediately became a superstar, led Milwaukee to a championship, became the greatest player of the 1970s, joined the Lakers and helped lead the Showtime dynasty, and nearly two decades into his NBA career was still contributing to championships.
If you combine Kareem’s college career with his NBA career, you could legitimately make the argument that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest basketball player, period, of all time. Three NCAA championships, six NBA championships, six NBA MVPs, two Finals MVPs, 19 All-Star selections, decades of dominance, the most unstoppable shot in basketball history, and one of the greatest examples of longevity professional sports has ever seen.
For me, he’s also the greatest center in NBA history. That’s an unbelievable statement when his competition includes Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon, but Kareem’s combination of peak dominance, winning, individual accomplishments and longevity gives him the edge.
There are only two players I can put ahead of him. And if someone wanted to argue Kareem should be even higher, his résumé gives them plenty of ammunition.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar comes in at No. 3 on my list of the greatest NBA players of all time.
Now only two remain.
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