Video: Watch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s First NBA Game

I’ve been busy this weekend moving from Brooklyn to just outside the city that birthed one of the most dominating centers in NBA history: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Before Kareem — when he went by Lew Alcinder, and before he would win 6 MVP awards and 5 NBA titles over a twenty-year Hall-of-Fame career — Lew was the 3-time NCAA champion making his pro debut in Milwaukee as he shared on Friday.

Kareem’s appearance in the NBA was far from a sure thing after he finished his remarkable career at UCLA in 1969. As detailed in one of the best basketball books ever written, Terry Pluto’s oral history of the ABA, Loose Balls, Kareem almost signed to play in the burgeoning American Basketball Association.

In that sumer of ’69, Kareem was adamant he wouldn’t go through protracted money negotiations and told both leagues to make him a single offer before he made his choice. Then-ABA commissioner — former Minneapolis Lakers star — George Mikan, didn’t think Jabbar was serious.

He offered Kareem less money after famously neglecting to mention the $1 million check the ABA had already cut for Kareem, which was sitting in his pocket at the time. He thought Kareem would make a counter-offer, but Kareem/Lew was serious when he said he would evaluate just one offer from either league even after Mikan informed him of the check after-the-fact. Thus, the ABA lost out on one of the greatest players in NBA history.

But the ABA’s loss was Milwaukee’s gain. On Friday, Kareem tweeted out a YouTube link to his very first game in the NBA.

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The fantastic Wilt Chamberlain archive on YouTube, shows the October 18, 1969 debut of an even leaner Jabbar. With Lew/Kareem lined up opposite Detroit’s 6-11 center (and four-time All-Star) Walt Bellamy, he nailed his first shot on his way to 29 points and a Bucks victory. Kareem would go on to score 38,358 more to set the NBA record for points in NBA history. Here’s the NBA’s all-time leading scorer dropping his first bucket — on his first attempt — less than a minute into his first NBA game.

And here’s the entire game. Feel free to geek out and watch it like we did this weekend before the cable guy came.

[Wilt Chamberlain archive]

What do you think about rookie year Kareem/Lew?

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