Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Greatness at Every Level

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has one of the greatest basketball résumés ever assembled, and his story didn’t begin in the NBA. He was the greatest high school basketball player of all time, became the greatest college basketball player of all time, then spent 20 seasons in the NBA building a legitimate argument for being the greatest player in league history.

The NBA GOAT debate is exactly that—a debate. The first two aren’t. Before the six championships, six MVPs and the most unstoppable shot basketball has ever seen, Kareem was already dominating the sport everywhere he went.

The Greatest High School Player Ever

Before Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, there was Lew Alcindor. At Power Memorial Academy in New York City, Alcindor became a basketball phenomenon. His teams went 79-2, won three consecutive New York City Catholic championships and put together a 71-game winning streak.

He finished his high school career with 2,067 points, setting a New York City scoring record at the time. This wasn’t simply a great prospect waiting to become something bigger. Kareem was already dominating basketball at a level almost impossible to match.

By the time he graduated, he was the most sought-after basketball recruit in the country. Then he went to UCLA and somehow became even more dominant.

The Greatest College Player Ever

Freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity basketball under NCAA rules at the time, meaning Alcindor had only three varsity seasons at UCLA. He won the national championship in all three of them.

From 1967 through 1969, UCLA went 88-2 with Alcindor on the varsity team. He won three consecutive national championships, three Final Four Most Outstanding Player awards and three national Player of the Year awards.

Three years eligible. Three championships. Kareem completely owned college basketball, and there is no college basketball GOAT debate for me. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest college basketball player of all time.

They Took Away the Dunk

Alcindor was so dominant around the basket that college basketball made a massive rule change during his UCLA career. In 1967, the NCAA banned the dunk, a change that became widely known as the “Alcindor Rule.”

Imagine being so dominant that one of the most basic and powerful shots in basketball gets removed from the college game while you’re playing. Instead of stopping him, the change helped push Alcindor toward developing the shot that would eventually become synonymous with his entire career: the skyhook.

The Most Unstoppable Shot Ever

Everyone knew what Kareem wanted to do. It didn’t matter. He would establish position, turn his body, extend his arm high above the defender and release the ball with one hand. Kareem’s combination of height, length, touch and repetition turned the skyhook into arguably the most unstoppable signature move basketball has ever seen.

That shot would follow him from college basketball into the NBA and help carry him through two decades of professional dominance.

Immediate NBA Greatness

The Milwaukee Bucks selected Alcindor with the first overall pick in the 1969 NBA Draft, and he immediately lived up to the hype. As a rookie, he averaged 28.8 points and 14.5 rebounds per game and won Rookie of the Year.

One season later, Milwaukee added Oscar Robertson and Kareem took another enormous step. During the 1970-71 season, he averaged 31.7 points and 16.0 rebounds, won his first NBA MVP and led the Bucks to a 66-16 record.

Milwaukee swept the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Finals. At just 24 years old, Kareem was already an NBA champion, Finals MVP and league MVP.

In 1971, after converting to Islam years earlier, Lew Alcindor publicly adopted the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The name would eventually become one of the most recognizable in the history of basketball.

Kareem continued dominating in Milwaukee, winning multiple MVP awards and taking the Bucks back to the NBA Finals in 1974. Eventually, though, his career would take him to Los Angeles.

Back Home in Los Angeles

In 1975, Kareem was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The championships didn’t arrive immediately, but the individual greatness never stopped. Kareem continued collecting MVP awards, controlling the paint and scoring with the skyhook.

Then the Lakers drafted a point guard named Magic Johnson in 1979, and everything changed.

Showtime

Kareem and Magic became the foundation of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. Their first season together ended in the 1980 NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. Kareem was brilliant throughout the series, but an ankle injury kept him out of Game 6. Magic famously started at center and helped finish the series.

It was Kareem’s second championship, and Showtime was only beginning. The Lakers went on to win championships in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988, giving Kareem five rings in Los Angeles and six overall.

As Kareem aged, Magic gradually became the engine of the team, but Kareem remained one of its most important pieces. In 1985, at 38 years old, he showed he could still take over on the biggest stage.

Finals MVP at 38

The Lakers met the Boston Celtics in the 1985 NBA Finals after losing to them the previous year. Boston destroyed Los Angeles 148-114 in Game 1, a loss that became known as the Memorial Day Massacre.

Kareem responded. The Lakers won the series in six games, finally defeating Boston in the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. Kareem averaged 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in the series and was named Finals MVP.

Nearly 16 years after entering the league, Kareem was still dominating championship basketball.

Six MVPs

Championships only tell part of Kareem’s story. He won six NBA MVP awards, and nobody in league history has won more.

Kareem captured MVP in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1980, showing a level of sustained individual greatness that stretched across different teams, teammates and stages of his career. He entered the NBA in 1969 and was still winning MVP more than a decade later.

The Scoring King

On April 5, 1984, Kareem caught the ball against the Utah Jazz, turned toward the basket and released the shot everyone knew was coming. Skyhook. Bucket. With that basket, Kareem passed Wilt Chamberlain to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

He eventually retired with 38,387 career points, and the record stood for nearly 39 years before LeBron James finally passed him in 2023. For almost four decades, every great scorer who entered the NBA was chasing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Twenty Years of Greatness

Kareem finally retired in 1989 after 20 NBA seasons with a résumé almost difficult to comprehend:

6× NBA Champion
2× Finals MVP
6× NBA MVP — Most in NBA History
19× NBA All-Star
15× All-NBA
11× All-Defensive
2× NBA Scoring Champion
4× NBA Blocks Leader
1969-70 Rookie of the Year
38,387 Career Points
17,440 Career Rebounds
3,189 Career Blocks
NBA 35th Anniversary Team
NBA 50th Anniversary Team
NBA 75th Anniversary Team
Basketball Hall of Fame

He played until he was 42 years old, remained productive deep into his career and retired as the most prolific scorer the NBA had ever seen.

The Captain

Kareem’s greatness also showed in the respect he earned from the people who actually shared the court with him. To his Lakers teammates, he wasn’t simply Kareem. He was the Captain.

That respect lasted long after their playing days ended. Magic Johnson still refers to Kareem as “Cap” or “Captain.” Think about who that’s coming from. Magic became one of the greatest players in NBA history himself, yet when he talks about Kareem, that respect has never disappeared.

Kareem wasn’t the loudest personality on those Showtime Lakers teams, but his leadership, experience and presence carried enormous weight. He had already been an MVP, champion and one of basketball’s greatest players before Magic even entered the league.

Six championships, six MVPs, 20 seasons and one nickname from his teammates that might explain his standing better than any statistic: The Captain.

The Greatest Center of All Time

When you look at Kareem’s entire basketball life, it’s difficult to find anything missing. The greatest high school basketball player of all time. The greatest college basketball player of all time. Then he reached the NBA and won six championships, six MVPs, two Finals MVPs, made 19 All-Star teams and held the league’s career scoring record for nearly four decades.

Is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the greatest NBA player of all time? You can absolutely make the case. Michael Jordan has his case. LeBron James has his case. Kareem belongs in that conversation too, and there may never be one universally accepted answer.

But that’s a debate for another day because we’re ranking centers, and at center there is no one I’m putting above him. From Power Memorial to UCLA, Milwaukee to Los Angeles, Lew Alcindor to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, his entire basketball life was defined by greatness.

Number one on our list of the five greatest centers in NBA history: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The greatest center of all time.

Like the article and subscribe to Ethical Sports Takes for more NBA rankings, stories and sports coverage.