A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Abdul-Jabbar won a record six NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.

Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lew Alcindor when he played at parochial high school Power Memorial in New York City, where he led their team to 71 consecutive wins.

[10] Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, a best-selling author, and a martial artist, having trained in Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee and appeared in his film Game of Death (1972).

The Harlem riot of 1964, which was prompted by the fatal shooting of 15-year old black boy James Powell by a New York police officer, triggered Alcindor's interest in racial politics.

[20] The varsity had lost Gail Goodrich and Keith Erickson from the championship squad to graduation, and starting guard Freddie Goss was out sick.

[50] During his junior year, Alcindor suffered a scratched left cornea on January 12, 1968, in a game against California (UC Berkeley) when he was struck by Tom Henderson in a rebound battle.

[52] On January 20, the Bruins faced coach Guy Lewis's Houston Cougars in the first-ever nationally televised regular-season college basketball game, with 52,693 in attendance at the Astrodome.

[68] Alcindor was an instant star, ranking second in the league in scoring (28.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.5 rpg), for which he was awarded the title of NBA Rookie of the Year.

[74] During the offseason, Alcindor and Robertson joined Bucks head coach Larry Costello on a three-week basketball tour of Africa on behalf of the State Department.

[81][82] On October 3, Abdul-Jabbar privately requested a trade to the New York Knicks, with his second choice being the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards) and his third, the Los Angeles Lakers.

[83][84][85] Two days later in a pre-season game before the 1974–75 season against the Celtics in Buffalo, New York, Abdul-Jabbar caught a fingernail in his left eye from Don Nelson and suffered a corneal abrasion; this angered him enough to punch the backboard stanchion, breaking two bones in his right hand.

[97][98] Two minutes into the opening game of the 1977–78 season, Abdul-Jabbar broke his right hand punching Milwaukee's Kent Benson in retaliation to the rookie's elbow to his stomach.

[106] Amid criticism from the media over his performance, Abdul-Jabbar had 39 points, 20 rebounds, six assists and four blocks in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers the day the All-Star rosters were announced.

They had acquired the pick from the New Orleans Jazz (later Utah) in 1976, when league rules required that they compensate Los Angeles for their signing of free agent Gail Goodrich.

[130] At the team's film session the following day, Abdul-Jabbar—who normally sat near the back—was seated in the front row, and accepted all of head coach Pat Riley's criticism.

[140][144] On his "retirement tour" he received standing ovations at games, both home and away, and gifts ranging from a yacht that said "Captain Skyhook" to framed jerseys from his career to a Persian rug.

[155] Abdul-Jabbar worked as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics, helping mentor, among others, their young centers, Michael Olowokandi and Jerome James.

It contributed to his .559 career field goal percentage, which ranked eighth in NBA history at the time of his retirement,[a] and reputation as a feared clutch shooter.

[176] To reduce wear during his later years, Riley did not have him inbound the ball on made baskets, and had him wait at the opposite end of the court on free throws.

[177] In what he described as playing a "smarter game" to conserve energy, Abdul-Jabbar sometimes would be the last player to set up on offense by several seconds after staying behind on defense to see if the Lakers scored on a fast break.

He has had roles in movies such as Fletch, Troop Beverly Hills and Forget Paris, and television series such as Full House, Living Single, Amen, Everybody Loves Raymond, Martin, Diff'rent Strokes (his height humorously contrasted with that of diminutive child star Gary Coleman), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Scrubs, 21 Jump Street,[224] Emergency!, Man from Atlantis, and New Girl.

[228] He has also made appearances on The Colbert Report in a 2006 skit called "HipHopKetball II: The ReJazzebration Remix '06",[229] and in 2008 as a stage manager who is sent out on a mission to find Nazi gold.

[232] Abdul-Jabbar appeared in the music video for "Good Goodbye", a 2017 song by rock band Linkin Park featuring rappers Pusha T and Stormzy.

[238][239][240] On February 10, 2011, Abdul-Jabbar debuted his film On the Shoulders of Giants, documenting the tumultuous journey of the famed yet often-overlooked New York Renaissance professional basketball team, at Science Park High School in Newark, New Jersey.

"[258] Commenting on Donald Trump's 2017 travel ban, he condemned it, saying: "The absence of reason and compassion is the very definition of pure evil because it is a rejection of our sacred values, distilled from millennia of struggle.

[260] In June 2021, he published an essay in Jacobin on the negative impact on public health of those refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, criticizing Kyrie Irving, among others.

[263] During the announcement press conference, Abdul-Jabbar commented on the historical legacy of African-Americans as representatives of U.S. culture: "I remember when Louis Armstrong first did it back for President Kennedy, one of my heroes.

The disease was diagnosed in December 2008, but Abdul-Jabbar said his condition could be managed by taking oral medication daily, seeing his specialist every other month, and having his blood analyzed regularly.

He partnered with Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer's "No Time to Wait"[292] to raise awareness of the symptoms of the irregular and rapid heart rhythm condition which increase the risk of stroke.

[298] In 2020, Abdul-Jabbar was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for his work on the documentary special Black Patriots: Heroes of The Revolution.