On August 16th, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time celebrated his birthday, and outside of perhaps Los Angeles, there was little fanfare celebrating his life or his place in sports lore.
Though we are from a different generation, I did manage to see Kareem play throughout his 10 “Showtime” years in LA along with Magic Johnson, James Worthy and the crew. He was 32 when Magic joined his Lakers and they proceeded to combine for 5 NBA Titles in those 10 years.
I never really watched him play before Magic’s arrival. Prior to 1986 the networks were still showing taped delayed NBA weekday playoff games specially for west coast games. The NBA was hardly on national TV prior to Magic Johnson/Larry Bird revitalizing the Leagues interest and influence. READ MORE
