Milwaukee Bucks: 25 Best Players To Play For The Bucks
By Phil Watson
89. <strong>How acquired:</strong> 1st overall pick from UCLA, 1969 NBA Draft.. C. 1969-75. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 1. player
Lew Alcindor had been the two-time national player of the year, a three-time Final Four Most Outstanding Player and had averaged 24 points and nearly 15 rebounds as a senior at UCLA when the Milwaukee Bucks took him first overall in the 1969 NBA Draft and outdueled the New York Nets of the ABA to get his name on a contract.
Later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he lived up to the hype—and then some. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1969-70, was named NBA MVP three times and was a six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA selection and a four-time All-Defensive pick for the Bucks.
He also finished second in the MVP voting in 1972-73, third as a rookie in 1969-70 and fifth in 1974-75.
Abdul-Jabbar led the NBA in scoring in 1970-71 and 1971-72 and in blocks in 1974-75.
He earned Finals MVP honors after averaging 27 points, 18.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 42 minutes per game, shooting 60.5 percent from the floor and 76.2 percent at the line in a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Bullets in the 1971 NBA Finals.
He put up 32.6 points, 12.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.1 steals in 49.3 minutes per game, shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 70.8 percent at the foul line in a seven-game loss to the Boston Celtics in the 1974 NBA Finals.
But he wanted out of Milwaukee and the Bucks obliged in June 1975, trading Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Elmore Smith, Dave Meyers, Brian Winters and Junior Bridgeman.
In six seasons in Milwaukee, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 30.4 points, 15.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.4 blocks and 1.2 steals in 42.7 minutes per game, shooting 54.7 percent from the floor and 69.5 percent at the line.
With the Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar won three more MVP awards, was the 1985 Finals MVP, a 13-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection and seven-time All-Defensive pick and led the NBA in rebounding in 1975-76, field-goal percentage in 1976-77 and blocks three different times.
He was also part of five NBA championship teams before retiring officially in June 1990, although he did not play after the 1988-89 season.
Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995, Abdul-Jabbar was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996.
More hoops habit: NBA Finals History: Ranking The Last 50 Champions
He is the NBA’s all-time leader with 57,446 minutes played and 38,387 points and is second in league history with 1,560 games, third with 17,440 rebounds and 3,189 blocked shots, 40th with 5,660 assists, 13th with a field-goal percentage of .559, 30th with an average of 36.8 minutes per game, 15th with an average of 24.6 points per game, 23rd with an average of 11.2 rebounds per game and eighth with an average of 2.6 blocks per game.