Is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Record Unbreakable?

dealrocker · Jun 15, 2009

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA scoring record, achieved over 20 years, with 38,387 points, may be an unbreakable record.

YouTube - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Unbreakable Record

clair · Jun 15, 2009

All it will take is for a great player to hang on too long. Someone like Lebron could do it, if he chose to play into his 40s.

bayareatiger · Jun 15, 2009

clair said: ↑

All it will take is for a great player to hang on too long. Someone like Lebron could do it, if he chose to play into his 40s.
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The problem is that endorsement $$$ make it easier for players to retire earlier now.

I seriously doubt you'll see too many superstars playing into their 40's any more.

BTW Welcome to the board dealrocker.

LSUTyga73 · Jun 16, 2009

clair said: ↑

All it will take is for a great player to hang on too long. Someone like Lebron could do it, if he chose to play into his 40s.
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I'm sure Ken Griffey Jr. was thinking that too.

clair · Jun 16, 2009

LSUTyga73 said: ↑

I'm sure Ken Griffey Jr. was thinking that too.
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Well yeah, barring 5-6 injury seasons, of course.

I think that was implied in the 1st msg.

Bengal B · Jun 17, 2009

bayareatiger said: ↑

The problem is that endorsement $$$ make it easier for players to retire earlier now.

I seriously doubt you'll see too many superstars playing into their 40's any more.

BTW Welcome to the board dealrocker.
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No matter how much money they might have there are some players who just want to keep on as long as they can rather than retire and be out of the limelight. Look at Brett Favre. Michael Jordan certainly didn't need the money when he came back to play with the Wizards. If Jordan hadn't taken 2 years off to play baseball and had hung on with the Bulls for another yer or two he might have already broken Kareem's record.

Its not the money- Its the ego.

houtiger · Jun 17, 2009

Seems I remember Kareem having lost a lot of money, but I don't remember if it was before he retired and caused him to hang around, or after he retired and he had to go hustle up some announcing work?

Found something:

So on the 21st of August, I was on a flight from Hong Kong to L.A., L.A. to Boston. On my second flight (and thankfully not wearing my Beat LA t-shirt) who do I see but the legendary Kareem Abdul Jabbar!

Wait a minute...

IN ECONOMY?!

Ok, so as if seeing a 7 -footer in a tiny airline seat wasn't awkward enough, Kareem was staring people down and ignoring cheers from the L.A. crowd telling him what a legend he is. Further, as he was sitting at the first seat in economy and next to the bathroom, the stewardess announces that that bathroom has to be "shut down." Kareem sure doesn't want his company today.

Upon arrival, at the baggage claim I watch as Kareem rejects photography with myself, two very pretty LA-ites and a poor Asian kid and his girlfriend. But whatever, seeing him in person was cool enough. I grab my baggage and head to the taxi stand. Kareem is walking in front of me. But he doesn't go to the Hummer, doesn't go to the limo, doesn't even go to the taxi stand, but instead walks onto the Budget Bus.

Now I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but watching a generally nice Hall of Famer look depressed in a dirty (very dirty) blue NBA track suit sitting on economy and a budget bus has to make me wonder.

Even my cab driver went "Was that Kareem? Why the hell is he on a bus?"

Must be bad times indeed for Kareem.
An odd story, to be sure, but maybe not as strange as it seems. Many people don't realize this, but Kareem has had his fair share of crippling financial problems. In 1980, he lost "large sums of money" due to a particularly nasty divorce and "his own and his women friends' extravagances." In 1983, his Bel Air mansion burned to the ground, taking much of the $13 million in salary he had earned during his career with it. Then, in the mid-80s, Kareem's business manager, Tom Collins, abused his power of attorney to take out some $9 million in loans in Kareem's name. He had also used Kareem's money to pay other clients and lost many more millions of Kareem's cash "in a web of investments so complex and damaging that a team of Bushkin lawyers had spent months trying to extricate [Kareem]." Kareem's lawyers eventually sued Collins (among others) to recover damages which they said totaled $59 million. Ouch.

<snip - bad story>

And, believe it or not, Alex English sued Kareem for $150,000 because of the whole mess. That's how bad it got. Now, at that time, Kareem's Bushkin lawyer Leonard Armato said: "The idea that Kareem is broke and desperate for money is a fiction." Still...those kinds of losses can't be easy to recover from.

It's not like Kareem has been sitting on his hands since all that happened. He's worked as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics, and most recently for the Lakers, as a special assistant to Phil Jackson (to work with Andrew Bynum). He also spent time blogging for the Los Angeles Times, and he has authored several books. So we know, at the very least, that he's been employed. It's possible that he doesn't make much, and it's also possible that he simply lives a frugal lifestyle because of the difficult lessons he learned. Whatever the case, it is, nonetheless, obvious he isn't rolling around in Kobe Bryant money. Or even, it would seem, Josh Childress money.
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Basketbawful

I don't know anything about the website, but it sorta jibes with my general recollection.

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Is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Record Unbreakable?

dealrocker Freshman

clair Rockets

bayareatiger If it's too loud YOU'RE TOO OLD

LSUTyga73 Football Connoisseur

clair Rockets

Bengal B Founding Member

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