Tag: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shared a very moving farewell for the late Bill Walton

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shared a very moving tribute to his friend, the late Bill Walton.

One basketball legend paid tribute to another as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a moving farewell for his longtime friend and competitor, Bill Walton.

Walton died on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer. During the 1970s, he and Abdur-Jabbar were two of the sport’s shining stars, as they both played for John Wooden at UCLA and went on to become generational talents in the NBA for their respective franchises.

With the news of Walton’s passing, Abdul-Jabbar powerfully memorialized the late basketball icon as “the best of us” in a Twitter (X) post on Monday afternoon.

“My very close friend, fellow Bruin, and NBA rival Bill Walton died today,” Abdul-Jabbar said in his post. “And the world feels so much heavier now.

“On the court, Bill was a fierce player, but off the court he wasn’t happy unless he did everything he could to make everyone around him happy. He was the best of us.”

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LeBron James becomes oldest player to be named to an All-NBA team

LeBron James continues to laugh in the face of Father Time with his latest individual accomplishment.

For the last several years, many have waited for LeBron James to start declining or at least show some real signs of aging. But it hasn’t really happened, at least not yet.

This season, he turned 39 years of age, but he didn’t play like it. He averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds a game while shooting 54.0% from the field, which was his highest accuracy in six years. He also made 41.0% of his 3-point attempts, which was his highest 3-point percentage ever for an entire season.

As a result, James was named to the All-NBA Third Team on Wednesday. It marked his 20th selection to one of the three All-NBA teams, which keeps him as the all-time leader in that category by a mile.

In doing so, he is now the oldest player in NBA history to be named to an All-NBA team. He was also the youngest player to do so back in the 2004-05 season.

Previously, the oldest player to make an All-NBA team was Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the 1985-86 campaign. At the time, he was merely about eight months younger than James is now.

James may not be the greatest player in basketball history, but he does have the greatest longevity of any NBA player ever. That includes Abdul-Jabbar, who was ahead of his time back in the day when it came to taking care of his body and working on his overall fitness.

LeBron James is named NBA All-Star Game starter and captain

Lakers superstar LeBron James was chosen to be a starter in the upcoming NBA All-Star Game, giving him a new league record.

On Feb. 18, the 2024 NBA All-Star Game will take place in Indianapolis, and the league will go back to the game’s classic format of both conferences competing against each other in a standard 48-minute game with four 12-minute quarters.

Voting for the All-Star game has taken place over the last few weeks. On Thursday, the starters for both the Western Conference and Eastern Conference were announced on TNT.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James was selected as both a starter and the captain for the West. It gave him his 20th All-Star selection, which is an NBA record, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had 19.

While Abdul-Jabbar was chosen to take part in the midseason classic in each of his 20 seasons, he was merely a replacement selection in 1989, which was his final season. He missed the 1973 contest, giving him a total of 19 actual appearances.

Barring something catastrophic, James will set another record with his 20th All-Star appearance in a few weeks.

UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hospitalized with broken hip

Former UCLA basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is slated to undergo surgery after falling and breaking his hip at a concert in LA on Friday evening.

Basketball Hall of Famer and UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 76, was hospitalized after breaking his hip from a fall at a concert in Los Angeles according to his representative, Deborah Morales.

Abdul-Jabbar was slated to undergo surgery on Saturday after going to the hospital on Friday night. No other details about his condition have been released at this time.

Morales said Abdul-Jabbar was “deeply appreciative” of the Los Angeles Fire Department, which treated him at the scene, and the “amazing medical team and doctors at UCLA Hospital who are taking great care of [him].”

Abdul-Jabbar is one of the most prolific college and NBA players of all-time. While at UCLA, where he went by Lew Alcindor, he was a two-time AP Player of the Year and a three-time NCAA Champion – and is responsible for the NCAA not allowing dunking for a ten year period starting in 1967.

Abdul-Jabbar then became the first pick in the 1969 NBA draft and had an incredibly prolific professional career, holding the NBA scoring record for over 30 years before it was broken by LeBron James in February.

Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks hip; has been hospitalized

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, arguably the greatest Lakers player ever, suffered a fall.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, players in Los Angeles Lakers history. He helped the team to five NBA championships during his 14 seasons with it, and during his 20-year career, which included six seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, he compiled quite the resume.

He won a record six regular-season MVP awards and was the league’s all-time leading scorer until LeBron James surpassed him in February. He is among the all-time career leaders in rebounds and blocked shots, and he’s tied with James for the most All-Star selections in NBA history at 19.

Unfortunately, Abdul-Jabbar reportedly fell during a concert in Los Angeles, resulting in him breaking his hip.

Via ESPN:

“NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been hospitalized after suffering a broken hip when he fell at a concert in Los Angeles, his representative Deborah Morales told multiple outlets Saturday.

“Abdul-Jabbar, 76, was taken to the hospital Friday night after falling at the undisclosed event and was slated to undergo surgery Saturday, according to Morales. No other details about his condition were released.

“Morales said Abdul-Jabbar was ‘deeply appreciative’ of the Los Angeles Fire Department, which treated him at the scene, and the ‘amazing medical team and doctors at UCLA Hospital who are taking great care of (him).'”

Hopefully, the legendary center will make a full and very quick recovery.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar thanked fans for support after breaking his hip at a concert

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke his hip after falling at a concert on Friday night. 

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke his hip after accidentally falling at a concert on Friday night.

He was set to undergo surgery to repair the injury on Saturday, per a statement from Abdul-Jabbar’s longtime business partner, Deborah Morales, via Twitter.

“We are all deeply appreciative of all the support for Kareem, especially from the Los Angeles Fire Department who assisted Kareem on site and the amazing medical team and doctors at UCLA Hospital who are taking great care of Kareem now,” the statement read.

Abdul-Jabbar, 76, has undergone some health struggles over the past decade-plus. The former Los Angeles Lakers star has dealt with cancer, cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation.

However, he has remained active in public life despite those struggles. In February, he sat courtside to watch LeBron James break his NBA all-time scoring record.

Abdul-Jabbar played for the Lakers from 1975-89 and is one of the franchise’s great icons. He won five titles with Los Angeles and one with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971. He also won six NBA MVP honors in his career.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar eloquently expressed why he doesn’t mind LeBron becoming scoring champion

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LeBron James has now played more minutes than anyone in NBA history

Lebron James achieved yet another statistical milestone on Monday in Philadelphia.

Monday night was not a good one for the Los Angeles Lakers. They were buried by the Philadelphia 76ers, 138-94, as the 76ers threw in one heat-seeking missile after another from 3-point range — 22, to be exact.

Just about nothing went right for the Lakers in this game. They shot 7-of-28 themselves from beyond the arc. They were outrebounded by a wide margin and gave up twice as many free-throw attempts as they had.

LeBron James had a non-descript 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting in 30 minutes, but he has been having an impressive season as he nears his 39th birthday.

He recently reached 39,000 career points, and on Monday, he became the NBA’s all-time leader in combined regular season and playoff minutes logged.

Four seasons ago in Philly, James notched another statistical milestone when he passed the late great Kobe Bryant on the league’s all-time career scoring list.

It says something about the Lakers’ rich championship tradition when the player James surpassed to achieve the all-time minutes mark is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the legendary Purple and Gold center who played 20 seasons and is arguably the greatest big man ever, if not the greatest player ever.

Jimmy Butler had a perfect reason why he called out his shot while he completed a skyhook

It sounded like Jimmy Butler was playing H.O.R.S.E. against the Bulls.

Jimmy Butler had an amazing tribute to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during a Miami Heat victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

Butler, who finished with 16 points as well as three rebounds and six assists, scored on Abdul-Jabbar’s signature skyhook shot during the first quarter.

It was a delightful moment no one could have predicted before it was happening, but if his defenders weren’t sure that’s what he was doing, he made sure to let them know.

Even on the broadcast, it was impossible to not hear Butler yell out “skyhook” as he took the shot.

During his postgame media availability, he added some context.

Here is what he said:

“I got to pick and choose my spots wisely because I’m in a 3-point shooting slump right now, so I got to go to what I know, which is the skyhook.”

Butler was then asked when he last attempted a skyhook and he said that it mostly happens during practice. He said that he “just be out there doing stuff” during practice.

The six-time All-Star also explained why he identified the name of the shot as he took it:

“I just had to let everybody know that’s the shot I was going to do and there’s nothing anybody could do about it because I made my mind up as soon as I went middle.”

While not all of them are skyhooks like Abdul-Jabbar, the Heat star is a perfect 3-of-3 on his hook shots so far this season, per Synergy.

It is unlikely that trend continues, though, as he was 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) on hook shots last season and 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) the season prior.

During his first season with Miami in 2019-20, however, Butler was 12-of-18 (66.7 percent) on his hook shots. That ranked second-best among those with at least 15 attempts, also via Synergy.

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Lil Wayne snubbed Shaquille O’Neal on his Lakers Mount Rushmore

Rapper Lil Wayne momentarily put Shaquille O’Neal on his Lakers Mount Rushmore, only to replace him a few seconds later.

The Los Angeles Lakers have had so many superstars and transcendent players over the decades that at least one has to be left off certain lists of the greatest to play for the franchise.

Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are certainly on just about everyone’s Mount Rushmore of Purple and Gold greats. But the question is, who deserves that fourth spot?

Is it Shaquille O’Neal, who gave the franchise eight of his best seasons, not to mention three straight NBA championships? Or is it LeBron James, who is now in his sixth year with the team and may be able to add a second ring to his Lakers resume?

Rapper Lil Wayne momentarily put O’Neal on his Lakers Mount Rushmore, only to change his mind and include James instead.

Obviously, as one could imagine, O’Neal wasn’t happy, but it was merely a matter of Lil Wayne’s opinion and not necessarily objective fact.

HoopsHype ranks LeBron James as its second greatest player in NBA history

LeBron James was No. 2 on HoopsHype’s list of the 77 greatest players ever, and just one of many Lakers greats to make the ranking.

The NBA is about to begin its 78th season, and there are plenty of interesting storylines going into the 2023-24 campaign. One of them is whether LeBron James will continue to play at a high level and lead the Los Angeles Lakers to another world championship, which would be his fifth.

He already has a sterling resume, and his individual accomplishments are almost second to none. While he has won four championships, he has also lost six times in the NBA Finals. Depending on how one perceives James, he or she may consider it a disappointment, or one may consider simply making it to the title series 10 times a massive accomplishment, regardless of how many times he took home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The debate about where James ranks among the greatest NBA players ever rages on. HoopsHype just gave its ranking of the 77 greatest players ever, and it had James at No. 2.

Via HoopsHype:

“There have been major developments in LeBron James‘ GOAT case since last year, most notably in the form of the four-time league MVP becoming the NBA’s all-time regular season leading scorer. (He already was No. 1 by a mile in the playoffs). Oh, and he also has the most playoff series wins in league history after a surprising run to the Western Conference Finals last season, though that did end in a sweep loss.

“Now three of the eight HoopsHype staffers taking part in this vote pick him as the best ever. It’s getting close.

“… Few players have ever matched James’ absurd basketball IQ, one that he could use to continue to dominate for the next few seasons as his career winds down.”

If James is fortunate enough to avoid any major injuries, he could continue to add to his legacy and strengthen his argument as arguably the greatest ever over the next couple of years or so.