CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

 

when Kareem retired way back in 1989 he was the N.B.A.'s all-time leading scorer. This juvenile biography by Helen Borrello goes all the way back to the beginning of Kareem's legendary basketball career, when he was known as Lew Alcindor and was the most famous prep basketball player in the country, before he went on to win three consecutive N.C.A.A. titles at U.C.L.A. The Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association and New Jersey Nets of the American Basketball Association both drafted him. To avoid a major bidding war, Alcindor asked them each to submit a sealed bid and Milwaukee won with a contract offer of more than $1 million.

Alcindor won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 1969/70, when he scored 2,361 points and had 1,190 rebounds, and he won the first of his six most valuable player Awards in 1970/71, when he was the league's top scorer with 31.7 points per game. He teamed with Oscar Robertson that season to lead the Bucks to their first NBA championship. Kareem was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975 and spent 14 seasons there, during which the Lakers won five NBA championships. As time went on, his unsurpassed skills and growing cordiality won the fans and writers back. Boston Celtic fans gave him a ten-minute standing ovation when he broke Wilt Chamberlain's career scoring record in 1984, and fans everywhere rewarded him with ovations and gifts when he made his farewell tour in the spring of 1989, after having announced his retirement. He holds NBA records for most seasons, 20; most games, 1,560; most minutes played, 57,448; most points, 38,387; most field goals, 15,837; and most blocked shots, 3,189. He was the NBA's regular season MVP in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, and 1980, and the playoff MVP in 1971 and 1985. Kareem was first-team all-star center in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, and 1986, and second-team in 1970, 1978, 1979, 1983, and 1985.