Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Post-NBA career what does he do after basket ball Since 2005, Abdul-Jabbar has served as a special assistant coach for the Lakers. did he win anything for them I don't know.
Did he win anything as a basket baller
Did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar win anything as a basket baller?
Since 2005, Abdul-Jabbar has served as a special assistant coach for the Lakers. He had been interested in coaching since his retirement, and given the influence that he exerted on the league during his playing days, he thought that the opportunity would present itself. However, during his playing years, Abdul-Jabbar had developed a reputation for being introverted and sullen. He did not speak to the press, which led to the impression that he disliked journalists. In his biography My Life, Magic Johnson recalls instances when Abdul-Jabbar brushed him off when Magic (as a ball boy) asked for his autograph, Abdul-Jabbar froze out reporters who gave him a too-enthusiastic handshake or even hugged him, and he refused to stop reading the newspaper while giving an interview. Many basketball observers, in addition to Abdul-Jabbar, believe that Kareem's reticence, whether through disdain for the press corps or simply because of introversion, contributed to the dearth of coaching opportunities offered to Abdul-Jabbar by the NBA. In his words, he said he had a mindset he could not overcome, and proceeded through his career oblivious to the effect his reticence may have had on his future coaching prospects. Abdul-Jabbar said: "I didn't understand that I also had affected people that way and that's what it was all about. I always saw it like they were trying to pry. I was way too suspicious and I paid a price for it." Since he began lobbying for a coaching position in 1995, he has managed to obtain only low-level assistant and scouting jobs in the NBA, and a head coaching position only in a minor professional league. Abdul-Jabbar has worked as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics, helping mentor, among others, their young centers, Michael Olowokandi and Jerome James. Abdul-Jabbar was the head coach of the Oklahoma Storm of the United States Basketball League in 2002, leading the team to the league's championship that season, but he failed to land the head coaching position at Columbia University a year later. He then worked as a scout for the New York Knicks. Finally, on September 2, 2005, he returned to the Lakers as a special assistant to Phil Jackson to help the Lakers' centers, and in particular their young draftee Andrew Bynum. Abdul-Jabbar's influence has been credited with Bynum's emergence as a more talented NBA center. Abdul-Jabbar also served as a volunteer coach at Alchesay High School on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona in 1998. In 2016, he performed a tribute to friend Muhammad Ali along with Chance the Rapper. He is also co-author of a comic book published by Titan Comics entitled Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook. CANNOTANSWER
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.; April 16, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two more as an assistant coach, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. He was named to the league's 35th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams. NBA coach Pat Riley and players Isiah Thomas and Julius Erving called him the greatest basketball player of all time.

With him on the team, parochial high school Power Memorial, in New York City, won 71 consecutive basketball games. He was recruited by Jerry Norman, the assistant coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he played for coach John Wooden on three consecutive national championship teams. He was a record three-time MVP of the NCAA Tournament. Drafted with the first overall pick by the one-season-old Bucks franchise in the 1969 NBA draft, Alcindor spent six seasons in Milwaukee. After leading the Bucks to its 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 in which they won five additional 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 succeeded in making the playoffs 18 times and got past the first round 14 times; his teams reached the NBA Finals on 10 occasions.

At the time of his retirement at age 42 in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA's all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played (1,560), minutes played (57,446), field goals made (15,837), field goal attempts (28,307), blocked shots (3,189), defensive rebounds (9,394), career wins (1,074), and personal fouls (4,657). He remains the all-time leader in points scored, field goals made, and career wins. He is ranked third all-time in both rebounds and blocked shots. ESPN named him the greatest center of all time in 2007, the greatest player in college basketball history in 2008, and the second best player in NBA history (behind Michael Jordan) in 2016. 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). In 2012, Abdul-Jabbar was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Early life
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. was born in Harlem, New York City, the only child of Cora Lillian, a department store price checker, and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician. He grew up in the Dyckman Street projects in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, where he moved to at the age of 3 in 1950. At birth, Alcindor weighed  and was  long. He was always very tall for his age. By age nine, he was already  tall. Alcindor was often depressed as a teenager because of the stares and comments about his height. By the eighth grade (age 13–14), he had grown to  and could already slam dunk a basketball.

Alcindor began his record-breaking basketball accomplishments when he was in high school, where he led coach Jack Donohue's Power Memorial Academy team to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 79–2 overall record. This earned him "The Tower from Power" nickname. His 2,067 total points were a New York City high school record. The team won the national high school boys basketball championship when Alcindor was in 10th and 11th grade and was runner-up his senior year. He had a strained relationship in his final year with Donohue after the coach called him a nigger.

College career

Now  tall, Alcindor was relegated to the freshman team in his first year at UCLA, as freshman were ineligible to play varsity until 1972. The freshman squad included fellow high school All-Americans Lucius Allen, Kenny Heitz and Lynn Shackelford. On November 27, 1965, Alcindor made his first public performance in UCLA's annual varsity–freshman exhibition game, attended by 12,051 fans in the inaugural game at the Bruins' new Pauley Pavilion. The 1965–66 varsity team was the two-time defending national champions and the top-ranked team in preseason polls. The freshman team won 75–60 behind Alcindor's 31 points and 21 rebounds. It was the first time a freshman team had beaten the UCLA varsity squad. The varsity had lost Gail Goodrich and Keith Erickson from the championship squad to graduation, and starting guard Freddie Goss was out sick. After the game, UPI wrote: "UCLA's Bruins open defense of their national basketball title this week, but right now they're only the second best team on campus." The freshman team was 21–0 that year, dominating against junior college and other freshman teams.

He made his varsity debut as a sophomore in 1966 and received national coverage: Sports Illustrated described him as "The New Superstar" after he scored 56 points in his first game, which broke the UCLA single-game record held by Gail Goodrich. He averaged 29 points per game during the season and led UCLA to an undefeated 30–0 record and a national championship. After the season, the dunk was banned in college basketball in an attempt to curtail his dominance. The rule was not rescinded until the 1976–77 season. Alcindor was the main contributor to the team's three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses: one to the University of Houston in which Alcindor had an eye injury, and the other to crosstown rival USC who played a "stall game"; there was no shot clock in that era, allowing the Trojans to hold the ball as long as it wanted before attempting to score. They limited Alcindor to only four shots and 10 points.

During his college career, Alcindor was a three-time national player of the year (1967–1969); was a three-time unanimous first-team All-American (1967–1969); played on three NCAA basketball champion teams (1967, 1968 and 1969); was honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament three times and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969. He was the only player to win the Helms Foundation Player of the Year award three times.

Alcindor had considered transferring to Michigan because of unfulfilled recruiting promises. UCLA player Willie Naulls introduced Alcindor and teammate Lucius Allen to athletic booster Sam Gilbert, who convinced the pair to remain at UCLA.

During his junior year, Alcindor suffered a scratched left cornea on January 12, 1968, in a game against Cal when he was struck by Tom Henderson in a rebound battle. He would miss the next two games against Stanford and Portland. His cornea would again be scratched during his pro career, which subsequently caused him to wear goggles for eye protection. On January 20, the Bruins faced coach Guy Lewis's Houston Cougars in the first-ever nationally televised regular-season college basketball game, with 52,693 in attendance at the Astrodome. In a contest billed as the "Game of the Century", Cougar forward Elvin Hayes scored 39 points and had 15 rebounds, while Alcindor, suffering from his eye injury, was held to just 15 points as Houston won 71–69, ending UCLA's 47-game winning streak. Hayes and Alcindor had a rematch in the semi-finals of the NCAA Tournament, where UCLA, with a healthy Alcindor, defeated Houston 101–69 en route to the national championship. UCLA limited Hayes, who was averaging 37.7 points per game, to only ten points. Wooden credited his assistant, Jerry Norman, for devising the diamond-and-one defense that contained Hayes. Sports Illustrated ran a cover story on the game and used the headline: "Lew's Revenge: The Rout of Houston."

During the summer of 1968, Alcindor took the shahada twice and converted to Sunni Islam from Catholicism. He adopted the Arabic name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, though he did not begin using it publicly until 1971. He boycotted the 1968 Summer Olympics, deciding not to try out for U.S. Olympic basketball team, who went on to easily win the gold medal. Alcindor was protesting the unequal treatment of African Americans in the United States, stating that he was "trying to point out to the world the futility of winning the gold medal for this country and then coming back to live under oppression."

At the time, the NBA did not allow college underclassmen to declare early for the draft. Alcindor completed his studies and earned a Bachelor of Arts with a major in history in 1969. In his free time, he practiced martial arts. He studied aikido in New York between his sophomore and junior year, before learning Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee in Los Angeles.

School records
As of the 2019–20 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team season, he still holds or shares a number of individual records at UCLA:
 Highest career scoring average: 26.4
 Most career field goals: 943 (tied with Don MacLean)
 Most points in a season: 870 (1967) 
 Highest season scoring average: 29.0 (1967)
 Most field goals in a season: 346 (1967) (also, the second most: 303 (1969), and third: 294 (1968))
 Most free throw attempts in a season: 274 (1967)
 Most points in a single game: 61
 Most field goals in a single game: 26 (vs. Washington State, February 25, 1967)

He is represented in the top ten in a number of other school records, including season and career rebounds, second only to Bill Walton.

Professional career

Milwaukee Bucks (1969–1975)

Rookie of the Year (1969–1970) 

The Harlem Globetrotters offered Alcindor $1 million to play for them, but he declined and was picked first in the 1969 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, who were in only their second season of existence. The Bucks won a coin-toss with the Phoenix Suns for first pick. He was also chosen first overall in the 1969 American Basketball Association draft by the New York Nets. The Nets believed that they had the upper hand in securing Alcindor's services because he was from New York; however, when Alcindor told both the Bucks and the Nets that he would accept only one offer from each team, the Nets bid too low. Sam Gilbert negotiated the contract along with Los Angeles businessman Ralph Shapiro at no charge. After Alcindor chose the Milwaukee Bucks' offer of $1.4 million, the Nets offered a guaranteed $3.25 million. Alcindor declined the offer, saying, "A bidding war degrades the people involved. It would make me feel like a flesh peddler, and I don't want to think like that."

Alcindor's presence enabled the 1969–70 Bucks to claim second place in the NBA's Eastern Division with a 56–26 record (improved from 27–55 the previous year). On February 21, 1970, he scored 51 points in a 140–127 win over the SuperSonics. Alcindor was an instant star, ranking second in the league in scoring (28.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.5 rpg), for which he was awarded the title of NBA Rookie of the Year. In the series-clinching game against the 76ers, he recorded 46 points and 25 rebounds. He was the second rookie to score at least 40 points and 25 rebounds in a playoff game (with the first being Wilt Chamberlain). He also set an NBA rookie record with 10 or more games of 20+ points scored during the playoffs, tied by Jayson Tatum in 2018.

First championship, MVP, and Finals MVP (1970–1971) 
The next season, the Bucks acquired All-Star guard Oscar Robertson. Milwaukee went on to record the best record in the league with 66 victories in the 1970–71 season, including a then-record 20 straight wins. Alcindor was awarded his first of six NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, along with his first scoring title (31.7 ppg). He also led the league in total points, with 2,596. The Bucks won the NBA title, sweeping the Baltimore Bullets 4–0 in the 1971 NBA Finals. Alcindor posted 27 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in Game 4, and he was named the Finals MVP after averaging 27 points per game on 60.5% shooting in the series.

MVP recognition and trade request (1971–1975) 
During the offseason, Alcindor and Robertson joined Bucks head coach Larry Costello on a three-week basketball tour of Africa on behalf of the State Department. In a press conference at the State Department on June 3, 1971, he stated that going forward, he wanted to be called by his Muslim name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (, Karīm Abd al-Jabbār), its translation roughly "noble one, servant of the Almighty [i.e., servant of Allah]".

Abdul-Jabbar remained a dominant force for the Bucks. The following year, he repeated as scoring champion (34.8 ppg and 2,822 total points) and became the first player to be named the NBA Most Valuable Player twice in his first three years. In 1974, Abdul-Jabbar led the Bucks to their fourth consecutive Midwest Division title, and he won his third MVP Award in four years. He was among the top five NBA players in scoring (27.0 ppg, third), rebounding (14.5 rpg, fourth), blocked shots (283, second), and field goal percentage (.539, second).

Robertson, who became a free agent in the offseason, retired in September 1974 after he was unable to agree on a contract with the Bucks.  On October 3, Abdul-Jabbar privately requested a trade to the New York Knicks, with his second choice being the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards) and his third, the Los Angeles Lakers. He had never spoken negatively of the city of Milwaukee or its fans, but he said that being in the Midwest did not fit his cultural needs. Two days later in a pre-season game before the 1974–75 season against the Boston Celtics in Buffalo, New York, Abdul-Jabbar caught a fingernail in his left eye from Don Nelson and suffered a corneal abrasion; this angered him enough to punch the backboard stanchion, breaking two bones in his right hand. He missed the first 16 games of the season, during which the Bucks were 3–13, and returned in late November wearing protective goggles. On March 13, 1975, sportscaster Marv Albert reported that Abdul-Jabbar requested a trade to either New York or Los Angeles, preferably to the Knicks. The following day after a loss in Milwaukee to the Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar confirmed to reporters his desire to play in another city. He averaged 30.0 points during the season, but Milwaukee finished in last place in the division at 38–44.

Los Angeles Lakers (1975–1989)

Fourth and fifth MVP awards (1975–1977) 
In 1975, the Lakers acquired Abdul-Jabbar and reserve center Walt Wesley from the Bucks for center Elmore Smith, guard Brian Winters, blue-chip rookies Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman, and cash. In the 1975–76 season, his first with the Lakers, he had a dominating season, averaging 27.7 points per game and leading the league in rebounding (16.9), blocked shots (4.12), and total minutes played (3,379). His 1,111 defensive rebounds remains the NBA single-season record (defensive rebounds were not recorded prior to the 1973–74 season). He earned his fourth MVP award, becoming the first winner in Lakers' franchise history, but missed the post-season for the second straight year as the Lakers finished 40–42.

Afer acquiring a cast of no-name free agents, the Lakers were projected to finished near the bottom of the Pacific Division in 1976–77. However, Abdul-Jabbar helped lead the team to the best record (53–29) in the NBA. He won his fifth MVP award, tying Bill Russell's record. Abdul-Jabbar led the league in field goal percentage (.579), was third in scoring (26.2), and was second in rebounds (13.3) and blocked shots (3.18). In the playoffs, the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semi-finals, setting up a confrontation with the Portland Trail Blazers. The result was a memorable matchup, pitting Abdul-Jabbar against a young, injury-free Bill Walton. Although Abdul-Jabbar dominated the series statistically, Walton and the Trail Blazers (who were experiencing their first-ever run in the playoffs) swept the Lakers, behind Walton's skillful passing and timely plays.

Playoff disappointments (1977–1979) 
Two minutes into the opening game of the 1977–78 season, Abdul-Jabbar broke his right hand punching Milwaukee's Kent Benson in retaliation to the rookie's elbow to his stomach. Benson suffered a black right eye and required two stitches. According to Benson, Abdul-Jabbar initiated the elbowing, but there were no witnesses and it was not captured on replays. Abdul-Jabbar, who broke the same bone in 1975 after he punched the backboard support, was out for almost two months and missed 20 games. He was fined a then-league record $5,000 but was not suspended. Benson missed one game but was not punished by the league. The Lakers were 8–13 when Abdul-Jabbar returned. He was not named to the 1978 NBA All-Star Game, the only time in his 20-year career he was not selected to an All-Star Game. Chicago's Artis Gilmore and Detroit's Bob Lanier were chosen as reserves for the West, with Walton starting
at center. Amid criticism from the media over his performance, Abdul-Jabbar had 39 points, 20 rebounds, six assists and four blocks in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers the day the All-Star rosters were announced. He added 37 points and 30 rebounds in a victory over the New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn) in the final game before the All-Star break.

Abdul-Jabbar's play remained strong during the next two seasons, being named to the All-NBA Second Team twice, the All-Defense First Team once, and the All-Defense Second Team once.  The Lakers, however, continued to be stymied in the playoffs, being eliminated by the Seattle SuperSonics in both 1978 (first round) and 1979 (semifinals).

Last MVP award and championship success (1979–1985) 
In 1979, the Lakers selected Magic Johnson with the first overall pick of the draft. They had acquired the pick from the New Orleans Jazz (later Utah) in 1976, when league rules required that they compensate Los Angeles for their signing of free agent Gail Goodrich. The addition of Johnson paved the way for a Laker dynasty of the 1980s, appearing in the finals eight times and winning five NBA championships. While less dominant than in his younger years, Abdul-Jabbar reinforced his status as one of the greatest basketball players ever, adding an additional four All-NBA First Team selections and two All-Defense First Team honors. He won his record sixth MVP award in 1980 and continued to average 20 or more points per game in the following six seasons. He won his second Finals MVP in 1985, when he became the oldest to win the award at 38 years and 54 days old. On April 5, 1984, Abdul-Jabbar broke Chamberlain's record for most career points.

While in Los Angeles, Abdul-Jabbar started doing yoga in 1976 to improve his flexibility, and was notable for his physical fitness regimen. He says, "There is no way I could have played as long as I did without yoga."

In 1983, Abdul-Jabbar's house burned down. Many of his belongings, including his beloved jazz LP collection of about 3,000 albums, were destroyed. Many Lakers fans sent and brought him albums, which he found uplifting.

Final playing years and sixth ring (1985–1989) 
Prior to the 1986–87 season, Abdul-Jabbar gained , reaching close to , to compete against the growing number of 7-footers (2.1 m) in the league. The Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals in each of his final three seasons, defeating Boston in 1987, and Detroit in 1988. The Lakers lost to the Pistons in a four-game sweep in his final season.  After winning Game 7 of the 1988 finals, the 41-year-old Abdul-Jabbar announced in the locker room that he would return for one more season before retiring. His points, rebounds, and minutes had dropped in his 19th season, and there were reports prior to the game that he was retiring after the contest. On his "retirement tour" he received standing ovations at games, both home and away, and gifts ranging from a yacht that said "Captain Skyhook" to framed jerseys from his career to a Persian rug. At the Forum against Seattle in his final regular season game, every Laker came onto the court wearing Abdul-Jabbar's trademark goggles.

At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar held the record for most career games played in the NBA; this would later be broken by Robert Parish. He also was the all-time record holder for most points (38,387), most field goals made (15,837), and most minutes played (57,446).

Coaching career 
In 1995, Abdul-Jabbar began expressing an interest in coaching and imparting knowledge from his playing days. His opportunities were limited despite the success he enjoyed during his playing days. During his playing years, Abdul-Jabbar had developed a reputation for being introverted and sullen. He was often unfriendly with the media. His sensitivity and shyness created a perception of him being aloof and surly. At the time, his mentality was that he either did not have the time or did not owe anything to anyone. Magic Johnson recalled as a kid being brushed off after asking him for an autograph. Abdul-Jabbar might freeze out a reporter if they touched him, and he once refused to stop reading the newspaper while giving an interview.

Abdul-Jabbar had spent most of his career with a reserved attitude towards media attention (since he did not have to deal with it as a star at UCLA) before he softened up near the end of his career. Abdul-Jabbar said: "I didn't understand that I also had affected people that way and that's what it was all about. I always saw it like they were trying to pry. I was way too suspicious and I paid a price for it." However, he believes it was his reputation as a "difficult person", alongside his attempts at trying to break into coaching while nearing the age of fifty, that affected his chances of becoming a head coach within the NBA or NCAA.

Abdul-Jabbar worked as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics, helping mentor, among others, their young centers, Michael Olowokandi and Jerome James. Abdul-Jabbar was the head coach of the Oklahoma Storm of the United States Basketball League in 2002, leading the team to the league's championship that season, but he failed to land the head coaching position at Columbia University a year later. He then worked as a scout for the New York Knicks. He returned to the Lakers as a special assistant coach to Phil Jackson for six seasons (2005–2011). Early on, he mentored their young center, Andrew Bynum. Abdul-Jabbar also served as a volunteer coach at Alchesay High School on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona, in 1998. He moved on from coaching in 2013 after unsuccessfully lobbying for open head coach positions with UCLA and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Player profile
On offense, Abdul-Jabbar was a dominant low-post threat. In contrast to other low-post specialists like Wilt Chamberlain, Artis Gilmore or Shaquille O'Neal, Abdul-Jabbar was a relatively slender player, standing  tall while weighing around  to , although he bulked to  in 1986; in his early years, he used that frame for agility and speed while in later years he utilized a bigger frame for trying to guard under the basket. He was famous for his ambidextrous skyhook shot. It contributed to his high .559 field goal accuracy, making him the eighth-most accurate scorer of all time and a feared clutch shooter.

Abdul-Jabbar maintained a dominant presence on defense. He was selected to the NBA All-Defensive Team eleven times. He frustrated opponents with his superior shot-blocking ability and denied an average of 2.6 shots a game. After the pounding he endured early in his career, his rebounding average fell to between six or eight a game in his latter years. As a teammate, Abdul-Jabbar exuded natural leadership and was affectionately called "Cap" or "Captain" by his colleagues. He had an even temperament, which Riley said made him coachable. A strict fitness regime made him one of the most durable players of all time. In 1985–86, Abdul-Jabbar broke the previous NBA record of 16 seasons held by Dolph Schayes, John Havlicek, Paul Silas, and Elvin Hayes; he finished his career with a then-record 20 seasons played. In the NBA, his 20 seasons and 1,560 games are performances surpassed only by former Celtics center Robert Parish.

Abdul-Jabbar began wearing his trademark goggles after getting poked in the eye during preseason in 1975. He continued wearing them for years until abandoning them in the 1979 playoffs. He resumed wearing goggles in October 1980 after being accidentally poked in the right eye by Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich.  After years of being jabbed in the eyes, Abdul-Jabbar developed corneal erosion syndrome, occasionally experiencing pain when his eyes dry up. He missed three games in December 1986 due to the condition.

Skyhook
Abdul-Jabbar was well known for his trademark "skyhook", a hook shot in which he bent his entire body (rather than just the arm) like a straw in one fluid motion to raise the ball and then release it at the highest point of his arm's arching motion. With his long arms and great height, the skyhook was difficult for a defender to block without committing a goaltending violation. As a right-handed player, he was stronger shooting the skyhook with his right hand than he was with his left, although he was adept at shooting it with either hand, making it a reliable and feared offensive weapon. According to Abdul-Jabbar, he learned the move in fifth grade after practicing with the Mikan Drill and soon learned to value it, as it was "the only shot I could use that didn't get smashed back in my face".

Legacy
Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points, and he won a league-record six MVP awards. He earned six championship rings, two Finals MVP awards, 15 NBA First or Second Teams, a record 19 NBA All-Star call-ups and averaging 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game. He is ranked as the NBA's third leading all-time rebounder (17,440). He is also the third all-time in registered blocks (3,189), which is especially impressive because this stat was not recorded until the fourth year of his career (1974).

Abdul-Jabbar combined dominance during his career peak with the longevity and sustained excellence of his later years. He credited Bruce Lee with teaching him "the discipline and spirituality of martial arts, which was greatly responsible for me being able to play competitively in the NBA for 20 years with very few injuries." After claiming his sixth and final MVP in 1980, Abdul-Jabbar continued to average above 20 points in the following six seasons, including 23 points per game in his 17th season at age 38. He was named to the NBA's 35th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams.

Abdul-Jabbar is regarded as one of the best centers ever, and league experts and basketball legends frequently mentioned him when considering the greatest player of all time. Former Lakers coach Pat Riley once said, "Why judge anymore? When a man has broken records, won championships, endured tremendous criticism and responsibility, why judge? Let's toast him as the greatest player ever." Isiah Thomas remarked, "If they say the numbers don't lie, then Kareem is the greatest ever to play the game." Julius Erving in 2013 said, "In terms of players all-time, Kareem is still the number one guy. He's the guy you gotta start your franchise with." In 2015, ESPN named Abdul-Jabbar the best center in NBA history, and ranked him No. 2 behind Michael Jordan among the greatest NBA players ever. While Jordan's shots were enthralling and considered unfathomable, Abdul-Jabbar's skyhook appeared automatic, and he himself called the shot "unsexy". Abdul-Jabbar's only recognized rookie card became the most expensive basketball card ever sold when it went for $501,900 at auction in 2016. That record has since been surpassed.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| style="background:#cfecec;"|82* ||  || 43.1 || .518 ||  || .653 || 14.5 || 4.1 ||  ||  || 28.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 82 ||  || 40.1 || .577 ||  || .690 || 16.0 || 3.3 ||  ||  ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 31.7*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 81 ||  || 44.2 || .574 ||  || .689 || 16.6 || 4.6 ||  ||  ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 34.8*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 76 ||  || 42.8 || .554 ||  || .713 || 16.1 || 5.0 ||  ||  || 30.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 81 ||  || 43.8 || .539 ||  || .702 || 14.5 || 4.8 || 1.4 || 3.5 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 65 ||  || 42.3 || .513 ||  || .763 || 14.0 || 4.1 || 1.0 ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 3.3* || 30.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 82 ||  || 41.2 || .529 ||  || .703 ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 16.9* || 5.0 || 1.5 ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 4.1* || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 82 ||  || 36.8 ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| .579* ||  || .701 || 13.3 || 3.9 || 1.2 || 3.2 || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 62 ||  || 36.5 || .550 ||  || .783 || 12.9 || 4.3 || 1.7 || 3.0 || 25.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 80 ||  || 39.5 || .577 ||  || .736 || 12.8 || 5.4 || 1.0 ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 4.0* || 23.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 82 ||  || 38.3 || .604 || .000 || .765 || 10.8 || 4.5 || 1.0 ||style="background-color:#cfecec"| 3.4* || 24.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 80 ||  || 37.2 || .574 || .000 || .766 || 10.3 || 3.4 || .7 || 2.9 || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 76 || 76 || 35.2 || .579 || .000 || .706 || 8.7 || 3.0 || .8 || 2.7 || 23.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 79 || 79 || 32.3 || .588 || .000 || .749 || 7.5 || 2.5 || .8 || 2.2 || 21.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 80 || 80 || 32.8 || .578 || .000 || .723 || 7.3 || 2.6 || .7 || 1.8 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 79 || 79 || 33.3 || .599 || .000 || .732 || 7.9 || 3.2 || .8 || 2.1 || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 79 || 79 || 33.3 || .564 || .000 || .765 || 6.1 || 3.5 || .8 || 1.6 || 23.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 78 || 78 || 31.3 || .564 || .333 || .714 || 6.7 || 2.6 || .6 || 1.2 || 17.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 80 || 80 || 28.9 || .532 || .000 || .762 || 6.0 || 1.7 || .6 || 1.2 || 14.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 74 || 74 || 22.9 || .475 || .000 || .739 || 4.5 || 1.0 || .5 || 1.1 || 10.1
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
| 1,560 || 625 || 36.8 || .559 || .056 || .721 || 11.2 || 3.6 || .9 || 2.6 || 24.6
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| All-Star
|bgcolor="EOCEF2" | 19 || 13 || 24.9 || .493 || .000 || .820 || 8.3 || 2.8 || .4 || bgcolor="EOCEF2"|2.1 || 13.9

Playoffs

|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1970
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 10 ||  || 43.5 || .567 ||  || .733 || 16.8 || 4.1 ||  ||  || 35.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1971†
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 14 ||  || 41.2 || .515 ||  || .673 || 17.0 || 2.5 ||  ||  || 26.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 11 ||  || 46.4 || .437 ||  || .704 || 18.2 || 5.1 ||  ||  || 28.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 6 ||  || 46.0 || .428 ||  || .543 || 16.2 || 2.8 ||  ||  || 22.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974
| style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee
| 16 ||  ||47.4 || .557 ||  || .736 || 15.8 || 4.9 || 1.3 || 2.4 || 32.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 11 ||  || 42.5 || .607 ||  || .725 || 17.7 || 4.1 || 1.7 || 3.5 || 34.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 3 ||  || 44.7 || .521 ||  || .556 || 13.7 || 3.7 || .7 || 4.0 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1979
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 8 ||  || 45.9 || .579 ||  || .839 || 12.6 || 4.8 || 1.0 || 4.1 || 28.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1980†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 15 ||  || 41.2 || .572 ||  || .790 || 12.1 || 3.1 || 1.1 || 3.9 || 31.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1981
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 3 ||  || 44.7 || .462 ||  || .714 || 16.7 || 4.0 || 1.0 || 2.7 || 26.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1982†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 14 ||  || 35.2 || .520 ||  || .632 || 8.5 || 3.6 || 1.0 || 3.2 || 20.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1983
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 15 ||  || 39.2 || .568 || .000 || .755 || 7.7 || 2.8 || 1.1 || 3.7 || 27.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1984
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 21 ||  || 36.5 || .555 ||  || .750 || 8.2 || 3.8 || 1.1 || 2.1 || 23.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1985†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 19 || 19 || 32.1 || .560 ||  || .777 || 8.1 || 4.0 || 1.2 || 1.9 || 21.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1986
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 14 || 14 || 34.9 || .557 ||  || .787 || 5.9 || 3.5 || 1.1 || 1.7 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1987†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 18 || 18 || 31.1 || .530 || .000 || .795 || 6.8 || 2.0 || .4 || 1.9 || 19.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1988†
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 24 || 24 || 29.9 || .464 || .000 || .789 || 5.5 || 1.5 || .6 || 1.5 || 14.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1989
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 15 || 15 || 23.4 || .463 ||  || .721 || 3.9 || 1.3 || .3 || .7 || 11.1
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
| 237 || 90 || 37.3 || .533 || .000 || .740 || 10.5 || 3.2 || 1.0 || 2.4 || 24.3

Athletic honors

 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (May 15, 1995)
 College:
 2× Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year (1967, 1969)
 2× Oscar Robertson Trophy winner (1967, 1968)
 2× UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1967, 1969)
 3× Consensus first-team All-American (1967–1969)
 3× NCAA champion (1967–1969)
 3× NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1967–1969)
 Naismith College Player of the Year (1969)
 3× First-team All-Pac-8 (1967–1969)
 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (2007)
 National Basketball Association:
 Rookie of the Year (1970)
 6× NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988)
 6× NBA MVP (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)
 6× Sporting News NBA MVP (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)
 2× Finals MVP (1971, 1985)
 Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" (1985)
 One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996)
 Elected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
 November 16, 2012 – a statue of Abdul-Jabbar was unveiled in front of Staples Center in Los Angeles

Film and television

Playing in Los Angeles facilitated Abdul-Jabbar's trying his hand at acting.
He made his film debut in Bruce Lee's 1972 film Game of Death, in which his character Hakim fights Billy Lo (played by Lee).

In 1980, he played co-pilot Roger Murdock in Airplane!. Abdul-Jabbar has a scene in which a little boy looks at him and remarks that he is in fact Abdul-Jabbar, spoofing the appearance of football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch as an airplane pilot in the 1957 drama that served as the inspiration for Airplane!, Zero Hour!. Staying in character, Abdul-Jabbar states that he is merely Roger Murdock, an airline co-pilot, but the boy continues to insist that Abdul-Jabbar is "the greatest", but that, according to his father, he doesn't "work hard on defense" and that he does not "really try, except during the playoffs". This causes Abdul-Jabbar's character to snap, "The hell I don't!", then grabs the boy and snarls that he has "been hearing that crap ever ever since I was at UCLA" and been "busting my buns every night!". He instructs the boy to "Tell your old man old man to drag [Bill] Walton and [Bob] Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes". When Murdock loses consciousness later in the film, he collapses at the controls wearing Abdul-Jabbar's goggles and yellow Lakers' shorts. In 2014, Abdul-Jabbar and  Airplane! co-star Robert Hays (character Ted Striker) reprised their Airplane! roles in a parody commercial promoting Wisconsin tourism.

Abdul-Jabbar has had numerous other television and film appearances, often playing himself. He has had roles in movies such as Fletch, Troop Beverly Hills and Forget Paris, and television series such as Full House, Living Single, Amen, Everybody Loves Raymond, Martin, Diff'rent Strokes (his height humorously contrasted with that of diminutive child star Gary Coleman), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Scrubs, 21 Jump Street, Emergency!, Man from Atlantis, and New Girl. Abdul-Jabbar played a genie in a lamp in a 1984 episode of Tales from the Darkside. He also played himself on the February 10, 1994, episode of the sketch comedy television series In Living Color.

He also appeared in the television version of Stephen King's The Stand, played the Archangel of Basketball in Slam Dunk Ernest, and had a brief non-speaking cameo appearance in BASEketball. Abdul-Jabbar was also the co-executive producer of the 1994 TV film The Vernon Johns Story. He has also made appearances on The Colbert Report, in a 2006 skit called "HipHopKetball II: The ReJazzebration Remix '06" and in 2008 as a stage manager who is sent out on a mission to find Nazi gold. Abdul-Jabbar also voiced himself in a 2011 episode of The Simpsons titled "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing". He had a recurring role as himself on the NBC series Guys with Kids, which aired from 2012 to 2013. On Al Jazeera English he expressed his desire to be remembered not just as a player, but also as somebody who used their mind and made other contributions.

In February 2019, he appeared in season 12 episode 16 of The Big Bang Theory, "The D&D Vortex".

Abdul-Jabbar made a guest appearance as himself in a season 2 episode of Dave. The episode he appeared in was also named after him.

Writing

In September 2018, Abdul-Jabbar was announced as one of the writers for the July 2019 revival of Veronica Mars.

Documentaries

On February 10, 2011, Abdul-Jabbar debuted his film On the Shoulders of Giants, documenting the tumultuous journey of the famed yet often-overlooked Harlem Renaissance professional basketball team, at Science Park High School in Newark, New Jersey. The event was simulcast live throughout the school, city, and state.

In 2015, he appeared in an HBO documentary on his life, Kareem: Minority of One.

In 2020, Abdul-Jabbar was the executive producer and narrator of the History channel special Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his narration.

Reality television

Abdul-Jabbar participated in the 2013 ABC reality series Splash, a celebrity diving competition.

In April 2018, Abdul-Jabbar competed in the all-athlete season of season 26 of Dancing with the Stars and partnered with professional dancer Lindsay Arnold.

Writing and activism

Abdul-Jabbar became a best-selling author and cultural critic. He published several books, mostly on African-American history. His first book, his autobiography Giant Steps, was written in 1983 with co-author Peter Knobler. The book's title is an homage to jazz great John Coltrane, referring to his album Giant Steps. Others include On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance, co-written with Raymond Obstfeld, and Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, World War II's Forgotten Heroes, co-written with Anthony Walton, which is a history of the first black armored unit to fight in World War II.

Abdul-Jabbar has also been a regular contributor to discussions about issues of race and religion, among other topics, in national magazines and on television. He has written a regular column for Time, for example, and he appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday, January 25, 2015, to talk about a recent column, which pointed out that Islam should not be blamed for the actions of violent extremists, just as Christianity has not been blamed for the actions of violent extremists who profess Christianity. When asked about being Muslim, he said: "I don't have any misgiving about my faith. I'm very concerned about the people who claim to be Muslims that are murdering people and creating all this mayhem in the world. That is not what Islam is about, and that should not be what people think of when they think about Muslims. But it's up to all of us to do something about all of it."

In November 2014, Abdul-Jabbar published an essay in Jacobin magazine calling for just compensation for college athletes, writing, "in the name of fairness, we must bring an end to the indentured servitude of college athletes and start paying them what they are worth."

Commenting on Donald Trump's 2017 travel ban, he strongly condemned it, saying, "The absence of reason and compassion is the very definition of pure evil because it is a rejection of our sacred values, distilled from millennia of struggle."

Government appointments

Cultural ambassador

In January 2012, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Abdul-Jabbar had accepted a position as a cultural ambassador for the United States. During the announcement press conference, Abdul-Jabbar commented on the historical legacy of African-Americans as representatives of U.S. culture: "I remember when Louis Armstrong first did it back for President Kennedy, one of my heroes. So it's nice to be following in his footsteps." As part of this role, Abdul-Jabbar has traveled to Brazil to promote education for local youths.

President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition
Former President Barack Obama announced in his last days of office that he has appointed Abdul-Jabbar along with Gabrielle Douglas and Carli Lloyd to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.

Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee
In January 2017, Abdul-Jabbar was appointed to the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee by United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. According to the United States Mint, Abdul-Jabbar is a keen coin collector whose interest in the life of Alexander Hamilton had led him into the hobby. He resigned in 2018 due to what the Mint described as "increasing personal obligations".

Personal life

Abdul-Jabbar met Habiba Abdul-Jabbar (born Janice Brown) at a Lakers game during his senior year at UCLA. They eventually married and together had three children: daughters Habiba and Sultana and son Kareem Jr., who played basketball at Western Kentucky after attending Valparaiso. Abdul-Jabbar and Janice divorced in 1978. He has another son, Amir, with Cheryl Pistono. Another son, Adam, made an appearance on the TV sitcom Full House with him.

In 2016, Abdul-Jabbar performed a tribute to friend Muhammad Ali along with Chance the Rapper.

Religion and name
At age 24 in 1971, he converted to Islam and became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which means "noble one, servant of the Almighty." He was named by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis. Abdul-Jabbar purchased and donated 7700 16th Street NW, a house in Washington, D.C., for Khaalis to use as the Hanafi Madh-Hab Center. Eventually, Kareem "found that [he] disagreed with some of Hamaas' teachings about the Quran, and [they] parted ways." He then studied the Quran on his own, and "emerged from this pilgrimage with my beliefs clarified and my faith renewed." Abdul-Jabbar was also heavily influenced by Malcolm X, a leader of the Nation of Islam. Abdul-Jabbar was invited to join the group, but he refused.

Abdul-Jabbar has spoken about the thinking that was behind his name change when he converted to Islam. He stated that he was "latching on to something that was part of my heritage, because many of the slaves who were brought here were Muslims. My family was brought to America by a French planter named Alcindor, who came here from Trinidad in the 18th century. My people were Yoruba, and their culture survived slavery...  My father found out about that when I was a kid, and it gave me all I needed to know that, hey, I was somebody, even if nobody else knew about it. When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. And that's a terrible burden on black people, because they don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted." His name change further eroded his public image in the United States, mostly in white areas.

In 1998, Abdul-Jabbar reached a settlement after he sued Miami Dolphins running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar (now Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar, born Sharmon Shah) because he felt Karim was profiting off the name he made famous by having the Abdul-Jabbar moniker and number 33 on his Dolphins jersey. As a result, the younger Abdul-Jabbar had to change his jersey nameplate to simply "Abdul" while playing for the Dolphins. The football player had also been an athlete at UCLA.

Health problems
Abdul-Jabbar suffers from migraines, and his use of cannabis to reduce the symptoms has had legal ramifications.

In November 2009, Abdul-Jabbar announced that he was suffering from a form of leukemia, Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The disease was diagnosed in December 2008, but Abdul-Jabbar said his condition could be managed by taking oral medication daily, seeing his specialist every other month and having his blood analyzed regularly. He expressed in a 2009 press conference that he did not believe that the illness would stop him from leading a normal life. Abdul-Jabbar is now a spokesman for Novartis, the company that produces his cancer medication, Gleevec.

In February 2011, Abdul-Jabbar announced via Twitter that his leukemia was gone and he was "100% cancer free". A few days later, he clarified his misstatement. "You're never really cancer-free and I should have known that," Abdul-Jabbar said. "My cancer right now is at an absolute minimum."

In April 2015, Abdul-Jabbar was admitted to hospital when he was diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Later that week, on his 68th birthday, he underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery at the UCLA Medical Center.

Non-athletic honors
In 2016, Abdul-Jabbar was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama.

In 2011, Abdul-Jabbar was awarded the Double Helix Medal for his work in raising awareness for cancer research. Also in 2011, Abdul-Jabbar received an honorary degree from New York Institute of Technology.

In 2020, Abdul-Jabbar was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for his work on the documentary special Black Patriots: Heroes of The Revolution.

Works

Books

 Kareem, with Mignon McCarthy (1990) 
 Selected from Giant Steps (Writers' Voices) (1999) 
 Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement, with Alan Steinberg (1996) 
 A Season on the Reservation: My Sojourn with the White Mountain Apaches, with Stephen Singular (2000) 
 Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, World War II's Forgotten Heroes with Anthony Walton (2004) 
 On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance with Raymond Obstfeld (2007) 
 What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African American Inventors with Raymond Obstfeld (2012) 
 Streetball Crew Book One Sasquatch in the Paint with Raymond Obstfeld (2013) 
 Streetball Crew Book Two Stealing the Game with Raymond Obstfeld (2015) 
 Mycroft Holmes with Anna Waterhouse (September 2015) 
 Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White with Raymond Obstfeld (2016) 
 Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court (2017) 
 Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court (2017) 
 
 Mycroft and Sherlock with Anna Waterhouse (October 9, 2018) 
 Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage with Anna Waterhouse (September 24, 2019)

Audio book
 On the Shoulders of Giants: An Audio Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance 8-CD Set Vol. 1–4, with Avery Brooks, Jesse L. Martin, Maya Angelou, Herbie Hancock, Billy Crystal, Charles Barkley, James Worthy, Julius Erving, Jerry West, Clyde Drexler, Bill Russell, Coach John Wooden, Stanley Crouch, Quincy Jones and other chart-topping musicians, as well as legendary actors and performers such as Samuel L. Jackson. (2008)

References

External links

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1947 births
20th-century American male actors
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Jay Scot Baller (born October 6, 1960) is an American former pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Kansas City Royals. Listed at  6' 6", 215 lbs., he batted and threw right-handed.

Baller spent parts of six different seasons in the majors but never was able to stick with a big league time for an entire campaign. Primarily a reliever, he recorded 137 saves in 14 Minor League seasons and six saves in 94 Major League contests.

Career
Baller was selected by the Phillies in the fourth round (98th overall) of the 1979 MLB draft out of Canby High School in Canby, Oregon. He made his Major League debut with the Phillies as a reliever on September 19, 1982, throwing a scoreless, hitless inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He pitched in three other games that season, including one of his five major league starts, before returning to the minor leagues.

Baller was a throw-in player in a major trade after the 1982 season, as the Cleveland Indians sent Von Hayes to the Phillies in exchange for Julio Franco, Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jerry Willard, and Baller. He spent the next two seasons as a starter in Cleveland's minor leagues before being traded to the Chicago Cubs for Dan Rohn in April 1985. Baller returned to MLB that season, appearing in 20 games (4 starts) and posting a respectable 3.46 ERA. Baller split the 1986 season between the Triple-A Iowa Cubs and Chicago, sporting a 5.37 ERA, a 2–4 record and five saves in 36 games in the majors, the most extensive big-league action of his career.

In 1987 Baller spent the majority of the year in Iowa. In 23 games with Chicago, he went 0–1 and saw his ERA rise yet again to 6.75. The Cubs released him in December. He signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners and spent the 1988 season with their Triple-A team, the Calgary Cannons. After the season Baller signed with the Montreal Expos organization, and became a full-time closer for their Triple-A team, the Indianapolis Indians, posting a career-high 34 saves and a 2.02 ERA. Granted free agency again, Baller signed with the Kansas City Royals and found his way back to the majors in 1990. However, he was ineffective, managing only an inflated 15.43 ERA in three games.

After the 1990 season Baller signed with the Houston Astros but was released before the season began. He then returned to the Phillies organization, where he started his career. After an entire season at Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, Baller re-signed with the Phillies for 1992. Now old for a minor leaguer at age 31, Baller was a very effective closer for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, saving 22 games while sporting a nifty 1.42 ERA. Promoted to Philadelphia, Baller appeared in the final eight games of his major league career, managing an 8.18 ERA as he allowed five home runs and 10 earned runs in 11 innings of work. Baller was granted free agency again after the season, but there were no takers for his services, and he retired from baseball.

In between, Baller played winter ball with the Águilas del Zulia, Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de La Guaira clubs of the Venezuelan League in five seasons spanning 1982–1993, posting a collective record of 13–11 and a 2.39 ERA in 136 appearances, garnering three Closer of the Year awards while setting an all-time league record with 56 saves that still remain intact. Additionally, he pitched in the Caribbean Series in the 1987 and 1993 editions for Caracas and Zulia, respectively.

Personal life
Baller was arrested in 2007 when he was found in his vehicle cocking a handgun and passing it between his hands. Police discovered one bag (roughly an eighth of an ounce) of cocaine in each coat pocket and also one bag behind the driver's seat. A bag containing $15,000 was also found in the car.

He currently lives in Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.

References

External links

Jay Baller at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Jay Baller at Baseball Almanac
Jay Baller at Baseball Library
Jay Baller at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League)

1960 births
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Tiburones de La Guaira players Big Baller Brand (BBB) is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells clothing and shoes. Launched in 2016 by Alan Foster and LaVar Ball, it has most notably produced signature shoes for the Ball brothers—basketball players Lonzo Ball, LaMelo Ball, and LiAngelo Ball. Big Baller Brand has additionally been involved in the creation of the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), which it fully funded, and both the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games and Big Baller Brand International Tournament, which were a series of Lithuanian exhibition games hosted by BC Vytautas (featuring LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball).

Origins and history 
On April 14, 2016, Big Baller Brand announced that it would soft launch by June 2016. Founded by personal trainer and former football player LaVar Ball, the company was built on "core family values", according to its website. Ball later said that he created Big Baller Brand, which was based in Chino Hills, California, for his three sons: Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo Ball, who all played basketball at Chino Hills High School when it was established. He also stated that each of the three Bs on the company's logo stands for one of his sons.

Upon its launch in June, Big Baller Brand initially sold T-shirts, shorts, and sweatshirts through its online store. It partnered with a local design, printing, and shipping company, Garment Decor. In 2017, it also began working with sneaker company Brandblack for assistance in its shoe design. To maintain independence from Big Baller Brand, however, Brandblack created an offshoot creative agency Santa Ana Design for the partnership. Alan Foster, a family friend of LaVar Ball, has additionally become a manager and business associate of Big Baller Brand, helping design its signature shoes.

On March 7, 2017, Big Baller Brand was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and its official slogan "Built for this" was trademarked on February 7, 2018 after being filed for in May 2017.

In March 2019, it was reported that Lonzo Ball severed ties with co-founder of Big Baller Brand, Alan Foster, after concerns of his criminal past and alleged misuse of $1.5 million of Ball's personal and business accounts.

In April 2019, the Big Baller Brand website was shut down. When accessing the website, a notice that says "Thank you for visiting Big Baller Brand. Our website is under construction we will be back soon. Thank you." is shown. As of November 2019, the site's splash page directs visitors to click the BBB logo to go to a shopping page. Instead, guests who click are redirected to the official home page of Alan Foster. Big Baller Brand promises a separate web site in the near future. As of December 2020, a new version of the site appears to be up and running.

Products

Sportswear
In May 2017, Big Baller Brand announced a November 2017 release of its first signature shoe, the ZO2 for Lonzo Ball.  The base price of $495 garnered significant media attention. LaVar Ball responded on Twitter to critiques of the shoes' price: "If you can't afford the ZO2'S, you're NOT a BIG BALLER", for which he received further media criticism. In an interview with Colin Cowherd in May 2017, Ball said that if the big shoe companies like Nike, Adidas, or Under Armour want to make a deal with his Big Baller Brand, the asking price is $3 billion. He also said that Baller has sold between 400 and 520 ZO2 shoes. In another interview, Ball described the shoes as "stitching and glue", stating that they were "not that big of a deal".

On August 31, 2017, it announced the release of a signature shoe for LaMelo Ball, called the Melo Ball 1 (MB1), which was scheduled to be available in late 2017. According to Big Baller Brand, the shoe will be exceptionally light upon a request by Ball himself. The MB1 is currently priced at $395.

On December 4, 2017, Big Baller Brand revealed plans to create a signature shoe, known as the Gelo 3, for LiAngelo Ball after he left UCLA, following a shoplifting incident in China. Similar to the MB1, the Gelo 3 is also set at around $395. However, his shoes would later be renamed to the G3 Lux during his playing time in Lithuania.

The company's founder, LaVar Ball, also announced he would have signature shoes of not just his own, but a brand for his wife as well. LaVar's shoes are considered to be named "LaVariccis", while Tina Ball's signature shoes would be named "The Comeback", which was inspired by her recovery from a stroke she had in 2017.

On October 17, 2018, Big Baller Brand released a cheaper version of Lonzo's shoe, the ZO2.19, priced at $200.

Other products 
After LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball signed their first professional contracts with Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), Big Baller Brand saw an increased presence in Lithuania in 2018. On February 9, 2018, Big Baller Brand announced its partnership with the Lithuanian bottled water company Birštonas Mineral Water, a sponsor of Vytautas. LaVar Ball stated that Big Baller Brand would import water from Lithuania to the United States with a price similar to Perrier and S.Pellegrino products.

Sponsorships
On December 20, 2017, LaVar Ball announced the creation of the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a professional league completely funded by Big Baller Brand that is designed as an alternative to college basketball for high school graduates. The league, which launched in the summer of 2018, was expected to pay players $3,000 to $10,000 per month and include teams from several major American cities. According to Ball, players will be required to exclusively wear Big Baller Brand products, with uniforms, shoes, and other apparel provided by the company. On May 4, 2018, LaVar's youngest son, LaMelo Ball, was confirmed to be one of the players entering the upstart league, while also being touted as the face of the league by his father.

On January 5, 2018, Vytautas, the first professional team of LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball, announced that it would withdraw from the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) and in its place host five exhibition games to showcase the Ball brothers, called the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games. The games, which took place from January 9 to 29 and were live streamed through Facebook, featured widespread advertisement of Big Baller Brand, with Business Insider commenting that the company was "the real star of the show". Shortly after the Ball brothers began playing professionally, LaVar Ball heavily invested in Vytautas, helping it pay off its debts and allowing Big Baller Brand to become the team's main sponsor as a result. The team was also involved with the Big Baller Brand International Tournament and a few other exhibition games involving the Chinese Basketball Association's Guangdong Southern Tigers and the British Basketball League's London Lions during the 2017–18 season, with the Big Baller Brand's founder coaching the team during those events.

On February 15, 2018, Lonzo Ball released his debut rap album, Born 2 Ball, under the Big Baller Music Group. The label was a subsidiary of the Big Baller Brand and would be run by a close friend of LaVar's.

In April 2018, after previously wearing the ZO2 shoes during a game, Jordan Crawford was the first professional basketball player not related to the Ball family to look into having a partnership with the company. Crawford also gave the company words of approval for what they are doing. A month later, rapper Quavo of Migos fame was seen promoting Lonzo Ball's Big Baller Brand merchandise on Instagram, with later reports suggesting that Quavo would be an ambassador of the Big Baller Brand.

Customer service
In January 2018, Big Baller Brand was given an F grade by the Better Business Bureau, which said that Big Baller Brand "has a pattern of complaints", specifically that many customers have had to wait "weeks or even months to receive their order". Some customers alleged that they have received the wrong merchandise or even nothing at all, and that it had been difficult to contact the company. In May 2018, All-Star baseball player Adam Jones complained on social media that he just received his ZO2 Prime Remix shoes after ordering them a year earlier. A year later, Blair Looney of the Better Business Bureau stated that the Big Baller Brand still had an F grade and that "we are continuing to work with them on straightening things out."

References

External links
Official website

2016 establishments in the United States
Sportswear brands
American companies established in 2016