There are a number of athletes whom – for a variety of reasons – ‘slip through the cracks’ when people are discussing the greatest of all-time.

The talented individuals who are inconspicuously absent from people’s superstar lists, or fail to get a mention during robust pub debates.

In the specific case of basketball’s forgotten legends, this may be due to a number of reasons.

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Perhaps their ‘peak’ was too short, or their career lacked the longevity required to captivatingly stick in fan’s minds. Maybe they never won a championship, or were starved of post-season success and ‘moments’, where names are made and exploits remembered fondly.

It could be that they had style of play that was deemed not flashy, ensuring that they are not featured on highlight reels, even years after they’ve retired. Even the lack of a signature shot, move, or skill, means some players don’t seamlessly roll off the tongue.

It sounds crazy, but a number of players lack a distinctive ‘look’, thus impairing fans’ ability to spontaneously recall them.

The team you play on can also have an impact, as toiling away in relative obscurity for a franchise that isn’t famous like the Lakers, Celtics or Bulls may hurt a player’s legacy.

Finally, it could very well be that a player was dominating well before the internet era, or even television, which can make it hard for younger fans to appreciate and rate them, as there may not be enough footage (or stats) of said great for people to view and use in their assessment.

Whatever the reason, it’s important that fans, especially – ahem – “older ones” don’t let deserving superstars be forgotten or underrated.



So we come to the greatest injustice in basketball: the criminal underrating of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

It’s curious that Kareem so often gets overlooked, because when you look at the above reasons why some players do, he doesn’t fit any of those scenarios. Indeed, if they were a combined benchmark of sorts, he doesn’t just ‘pass’ them; he smashes them.

To be clear, Kareem does make almost every list of the best players in NBA history. That is not the disservice at play here. No, the crime against Kareem is that he isn’t mentioned when the conversation turns to the single greatest player of all time.

Forget the token nod in a top ten list, Kareem should be mentioned in the rarefied air of Michael Jordan. He should be challenging the likes of LeBron James, and possibly winning the argument.

In order to make the case for Kareem to be in that discussion, I thought we’d play a little game. Based on the following set of single statistics/achievements, please choose one player:

Better scorer:

Kobe Bryant: 25 points per game, on 45% shooting, for 20 seasons

Kareem: 25 points per game, on 56% shooting, for 20 seasons

Better rebounder:

Shaquille O’Neal: 10.9 per game for his career, single season high of 13.9

Kareem: 11.2 per game for his career, single season high of 16.9

Better defender:

Larry Bird: 3x All Defensive Second Teams

Magic Johnson: 0x All Defensive Teams

Kareem: 5x NBA All-Defensive First Teams, and 6x NBA All-Defensive Second Teams



Whose single best season was more impressive?

LeBron James: 30 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists, PER of 29.1

Kareem: 34.8 points, 16.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, PER of 29.9

Whose career would you have preferred to have?

Wilt Chamberlain: 13x All-Star, 2x NBA championships

Kareem: 19x All-Star, 6x NBA championships

Who had a longer period of greatness?

Tim Duncan: Won NBA Finals MVP 6 years apart

Kareem: Won NBA Finals MVP 14 years apart

Who won for the longest?

Tim Duncan: Won championships 15 years apart

Kareem: Won championships 17 years apart

Who has the better overall basketball resume?

Michael Jordan: 6x NBA championships, 6x NBA Finals appearances and 5x MVPs, with 1x NCAA championship and 1x National college player of the year award

Kareem: 6x NBA championships, 10x NBA Finals appearances and 6x MVPs, with 3x NCAA championships, 3x NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player awards, and 3x National college player of the year awards

What’s more iconic?

Hakeem Olajuwon’s ‘Dream Shake’, Jerry West being the NBA logo, Oscar Robertson’s historic triple double season

Kareem: The most unstoppable move in history, the Skyhook, which helped him be the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points

I’d be shocked if Kareem wasn’t the answer to every query there.

To be fair, I admit that’s an extremely selective of use of statistics or achievements, and I’ve certainly cut them to suit my argument. Yet hopefully it helps paint a picture of just how great Kareem was.



We’re talking about an individual whose accomplishments place him in a very strong position to go head-to-head with absolutely anyone when it comes to debates on the greatest player of all time.

So why doesn’t he get the respect he deserves?

The first is a case of ‘Recency Bias’, for Kareem certainly suffers from not playing in the modern age, where his unique and uber-distinctive name, eye goggles and Skyhook – combined with his talent – would make him an internet sensation. Instead we’re left with grainy footage and statistics on a page, which are never as impressive as recent exploits.

His peak also came well before the NBA’s popularity skyrocketed. By the time Magic, Larry and Michael had taken the game to new heights, Kareem was well into the twilight of his distinguished career. A lot of fans memories – myself included – are of the veteran centre still being a large contributor to the Lakers success in the 80s, but not being ‘the man’.

Lastly, despite being a great player, his personality could be a little prickly and moody. He certainly didn’t light up a room the way Magic did/does, and he was never a media darling the way a Julius Erving or Charles Barkley were.

That’s not to say he was boring, for Kareem was a fascinating character. A proud, extremely intelligent, African-American, Muslim athlete, Kareem was certainly interesting. The problem was that in the era he dominated, those qualities made many people uncomfortable, which hurt his popularity.

To say that’s unfortunate would be an understatement, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Personality and background shouldn’t factor into such trivial discussions as ‘greatest player’, and I don’t believe any of the other reasons are valid enough to exclude Kareem from deliberations on the greatest player of all time today either.

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