Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Milwaukee Bucks (1969-1975)

Los Angeles Lakers (1975-1989)

6-time NBA MVP (’71, ’72, ’74, ’76, ’77, ’80)

6-time NBA Champion (’71, ’80, ’82, ’85, ’87, ’88)

2-time NBA Finals MVP (’71, ’85)

10-time All-NBA 1st Team (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76, ’77, ’80, ’81, ’84, ’86)

5-time All-NBA 2nd Team (’70, ’78, ’79, ’83, ’85)

5-time NBA All-Defensive 1st Team (’74, ’75, ’79, ’80, ’81)

6-time NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team (’70, ’71, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’84)

1970 NBA Rookie of the Year

19-time NBA All-Star

2-time NBA scoring champion (’71, ’72)

1976 NBA rebounding leader

4-time NBA blocks leader (’75, ’76, ’79, ’80)

#1 on the NBA’s all-time scoring leaderboard

One of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players (named in ’96)

Basketball Hall of Famer

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar lasted 20 seasons in the NBA, and this was after the greatest college career of all-time, where he captured three national titles and three player of the year awards during his time at UCLA. He was incredibly durable, only playing less than 76 games twice in 20 years. His list of accomplishments in the league is truly staggering. The man won six MVP’s (a record), scored 38,387 points (a record), was a 19 time All-Star (also a record), was named to 10 All-NBA 1st Teams, won two Finals MVP’s and won six championships.

Lew Alcindor was the name Kareem went by when he was drafted first overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969. In his first season he won Rookie of the Year and was named All-NBA 2nd Team. In his second season, the Bucks won the NBA title and Kareem won his first league MVP. After the ’75 campaign, though, Kareem wanted out of Milwaukee and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The late 70’s saw Kareem dominate statistically, but he couldn’t drag a flawed Lakers roster to a title. Everything changed in 1979, however, when the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson. Kareem and Magic teamed up to make eight Finals appearances and win five titles in the 80’s, becoming the dominant team of the decade. In 1985, he won his second Finals MVP award, a full 14 years after his first, a remarkable achievement. Kareem played until 1989, when his body finally started to slow down at the age of 41. For some reason, maybe his prickly personality or lack of flash, Kareem isn’t brought up enough when debating the greatest players of all-time. Not here though, he belongs in the absolute top tier of anyone who has ever picked up a basketball.

Other accomplishments that didn’t factor into this ranking

His #33 is retired by the Milwaukee Bucks

His #33 is retired by the Los Angeles Lakers

3-time NCAA champion (’67, ’68, ’69, UCLA)

3-time NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (’67, ’68, ’69, UCLA)

3-time national college player of the year (’67, ’68, ’69, UCLA)

3-time Consensus 1st Team All-American (’67, ’68, ’69, UCLA)

His #33 is retired by UCLA