Who is the greatest player to ever touch a basketball? Popular consensus would hand that title to Michael Jordan, with current Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James being considered a close second, but while both deserve consideration based on their legendary career achievements, one man that should be getting more GOAT consideration is the legend that is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Not only does Jabbar check all of the boxes that James and Jordan check, but one could argue that he accomplished even more. Here is why Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the real GOAT.

Jabbar took the game by storm from the very moment he stepped on the scene. As a high schooler, he played at a level that was previously unheard of. While at Power Memorial High School in New York, he set New York City school records in rebounding and scoring, while leading his team to a whooping three straight championships and 71 straight wins. His high school team is now considered the greatest high school team to step ever on the hardwood by many accredited sports experts. 

After Jabbar’s legendary high school career, he decided to take his talents to UCLA in 1965, where he played under the renowned coach John Wooden. As a college baller, Kareem would start right where he left off, leading his team to three consecutive championships once again. He would also hold the honor of being the NCAA tournament’s most outstanding player. After another one-of-a-kind career in college, Jabbar just needed to do it at one more level.

In 1969, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entered the NBA Draft and was selected as the first overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks, who, only having been a team for two years, languished at the bottom of the NBA. Just two years later, Jabbar led the Milwaukee Bucks to a 1971 NBA Finals win alongside NBA veteran Oscar Robertson. After a spectacular six year run in Milwaukee where Jabbar earned the titles of Rookie of the year, Finals MVP, and regular season MVP three times, Jabbar took his talents to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975 after requesting a trade.

Jabbar would only continue his dominance in the city of Angels. He would win three more MVPs and one more finals MVP during his time in LA. After the arrival of college and NBA legend Magic Johnson in 1979, he would tally five more NBA championships as well. After a dominant 14 year run in LA, Jabbar decided to call it a career at the age of 41 in 1989. At the end of his illustrious 20 year career, Jabbar managed to become the all time regular season points leader, which is a record that he still holds today. He also managed to tally 19 All Star appearances, two scoring titles, 11 All-Defensive teams, and 15 All-NBA teams. A career cannot get anymore impressive than that. 

After reading about Kareem’s accomplished career, how can you not consider him the greatest basketball player to ever walk this Earth? Not only was he clearly one of the best NBA players ever, he is the undisputed best college player in history and arguably the best high school player too. Considering what Jabbar accomplished at all levels of competition, I do not know how you cannot consider him the GOAT of the game of basketball.