Ask and ye shall receive. Former Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar complained last year that there wasn’t a statue of his likeness outside Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the problem was rectified on Friday when a bronze statue of him was unveiled.
The statue depicts Abdul-Jabbar wearing goggles and short-shorts, and it captures him doing his signature sky hook move. The statue will sit outside Staples Center alongside the statues for former Lakers greats Magic Johnson and Jerry West. Magic, West, and other Lakers legends such as Elgin Baylor, and coach Pat Riley were in attendance at the press conference on Friday where Abdul-Jabbar’s statue was unveiled.
Kareem played 14 seasons for the Lakers, helping lead the franchise to five championships. He won three MVP awards while with the team, and six total for his career (the other three were with Milwaukee). A 19-time All-Star and basketball Hall of Famer, Kareem is one of the best players in NBA history. The statue was long overdue.
In addition to the statue being unveiled, all fans in attendance for Friday’s Lakers-Suns game received a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bobblehead doll that shows him in goggles and doing the sky hook. This is one of the sickest bobbleheads we’ve seen:
Photo credits: Beto Duran/Twitter, Lakers/Twitter
