Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Explains Why He Didn’t Support Shaq At First

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the best players in the entire history of the NBA. Throughout his career, he was able to reach a plethora of heights. Overall, he finished his career as the league’s all-time leading scorer. More recently, this record was broken by LeBron, however, this does not take away from Kareem’s legend. He is still a top-three player ever, and if you know anything about basketball, then you respect Abdul-Jabbar for all that he accomplished. He was a trailblazer who remains highly respected by all.

Interestingly enough, much has been made of his relationship with another Lakers legend, Shaquille O’Neal. The night that LeBron broke the record, Kareem was on the NBA On TNT broadcast. During the interview with the Inside The NBA crew, Abdul-Jabbar cleared the air with Shaq over rumors that they didn’t like each other. Overall, it was a touching moment as Kareem praised Shaq for all that he did. Subsequently, Shaq did the same noting that he always looked up to the Lakers legend.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Talks Shaq

During an interview with Clutch Points over All-Star weekend, Abdul-Jabbar explained the origins of the Shaq beef rumors. Simply, Kareem didn’t initially support Shaq because he wanted the big man to become the best version of himself first. “I made up for a lot of time with Shaquille yesterday,” Kareem revealed. “He interviewed me, you know, we just got a lot of things straight. He used to think I hated him and that was never the case. I was waiting for him to reach his potential before I could support him. I didn’t want to support when he was just a [young guy]. He and Kobe got together and changed everybody’s idea of what he was possible of doing.”

Now that the two have touched base, fans can finally put all of the rumors and theories to bed. These two men are legends of not just the Lakers, but the NBA as a whole. It would have been a true shame if they did, indeed, not like each other. That said, let us know your thoughts on the situation, in the comments below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for more news and updates from around the sports world.

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