Rumors

Gary Vitti: So what we do know about the human body and this is well documented in the research is that repetitive movement causes compensation and the compensation causes dysfunction. In terms of basketball, the game is played between here and here. What we call the core. I'm going to ask you a question: Who's the player that you know that played over 20 years that was doing core work before we even talked about core and never got hurt. Byron Scott: Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Vitti: That's right. He was doing yoga. And he started talking to me. He didn't use the word core. He just said the game's played between here and I started listening to him and he's right.

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Gilbert Arenas: “And that's when the Jordan-loving media decided to start using those narratives in real time. No one before that was ever heard of as a member of a two-option ring. That wasn't a thing. It wasn't a thing. Like Magic Johnson, Johnson used to talk about I got five gold rings. I got three silvers. You're not going to take this credit for me getting to the finals and losing. You're not on the same planet as me. You didn't even make it to the finals. You're laughing at number two. It wasn't a thing. That wasn't a thing until LeBron James started winning. Then that became, "Oh, losers. Oh, you're going all the way to the chip and losing." Hey, so they changed the narrative for both of them. There was never a ring culture till 98, right? never knew ring culture until 1998. Hence why the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fans don't understand how he was never in this conversation.”

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Marc J. Spears: The Lakers always have a star. I've never seen any team sports do this other than Real Madrid. Like you got Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, Magic and Kareem’s Showtime Lakers and Shaq and Kobe and then LeBron comes and then you got the guy after LeBron? I mean that's incredible. Iman Shumpert: I mean it's nice city to sell at the same time. Malika Andrews: What do all of those players have in common? All of them brought championships to Los Angeles.

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While star big men such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Victor Wembanyama often appeared serious and guarded in public, Yang’s lighthearted personality recalls a fellow towering jester: Shaquille O’Neal. “Attention doesn’t bother me,” Yang said. “That’s part of the job. That’s the perfect time to show my humor. Sometimes you’ll see my face goes down. That doesn’t mean I’m frustrated. That means I want to go to sleep. I’ll save my words sometimes because I want to go to bed.”

Washington Post

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joins an elite list of players with his Finals MVP award. The Oklahoma City Thunder guard becomes the fourth player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, scoring title and Finals MVP in the same season. Below is the list of players SGA joins: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971) Michael Jordan (1991, 1992, 1996, 1998) Shaquille O'Neal (2000)

New York Times

Keerthika Uthayakumar: Only four players have won MVP, the scoring title & an NBA Championship in the same season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 Michael Jordan (x3) Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season

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Brian Geltzeiler: The following players have won a league MVP, the scoring title, a championship, and finals MVP in the same season Michael Jordan Kareem Abdul Jabbar Shaquille O’Neal Hakeem Olajuwon Shai Gilgeous Alexander is on the verge of joining this list

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Chris Miller: Jr. Wizards basketball camp at Georgetown Prep. Funny moment, one of the campers asked @DrewGooden if he played with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 😂😂😂😂😂 pic.x.com/wEsrXgjDt3

Twitter

Netflix: Shaq reveals his top 10 greatest NBA players of all time 👀 Watch one of the all-time greats make his next play on Power Moves with Shaquille O'Neal premieres June 4.

Twitter

Bill Cartwright: When I came to the league, uh, who are the guys that I admired? I'm playing against Wes Unseld. I'm playing against Dan Issel. Here's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Here's Jack Sikma. My second game I played against Julius Erving. And by the way, I blocked his shot. I couldn't believe I blocked his shot. So when I came to the league, those guys were my heroes. So now I come to Chicago, it's like what… People are like, "What was it like to play against Mike?" And I'm like, “He was a good young player." So to me, my heroes are the guys that I played and saw when I was a kid. Rest of you guys are just young kids. You guys are young kids. I couldn't be enamored by you young kids. Because I saw John Havlicek play, right? Bob Cousy. I met Bill Russell when I was in high school. So I was supposed to be impressed by these young guys? Get out of here. My heroes are behind me. 

YouTube

NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke to graduating students at Harvard University on May 28, telling the new graduates to "take a stand,: Abdul-Jabbar's speech came as Harvard continues to battle President Donald Trump's administration's efforts to revoke international student enrollment at the school. "During the many records I set and a whole lot of championship rings, my achievements as a basketball player were unrelated to my main goal: To be as successful as I could as a member of the Black community, as an American, and as a human being," Abdul-Jabbar said.

Patriot Ledger

"When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard to give up their academic freedom and destroy free speech, Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures the way Rosa Parks defied the entire weight of systemic racism in 1955," Abdul-Jabbar said to the applause of the Harvard crowd.

Patriot Ledger

Josh Lewenberg: Players to win MVP and an NBA championship in the same season: Steph, LeBron (x2), Duncan, Shaq, Jordan (x4), Hakeem, Magic, Bird (x2), Moses Malone, Kareem (x2), Willis Reed, Wilt, Bill Russell (x4), Bob Cousy Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 4 wins away from joining that group.

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Larry Miller, a two-time ACC player of the year for North Carolina and 2022 inductee in the College Basketball Hall of Fame, has died. He was 79. The UNC athletic department said Miller died Sunday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. No cause of death was given. An athletic department spokesman said Miller was in hospice care and dealing with medical issues for some time. Miller, a native of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, was a star forward on coach Dean Smith's first two Atlantic Coast Conference championship and Final Four teams in 1967 and 1968. He earned first-team All-America honors both seasons and was a consensus pick in 1968 along with UCLA's Lew Alcindor, Houston's Elvin Hayes, LSU's Pete Maravich and Louisville's Wes Unseld.

ESPN