Kareem abdul-jabbar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time in his 20 years of playing in the nba he won the championship six times and out of two of those times he won the finals mvp he became famous for his trademark sky hook shot which helped him establish himself as one of the greatest scorers of all time kareem had a spectacular nba career and one of the things we’ll always remember him for is his trademark
Goggles therefore we’ll be talking about why kareem abdul-jabbar is fond of wearing goggles in this video if you’re new to this channel don’t forget to like this video and subscribe for more interesting nba related videos kareem abdul-jabbar is perhaps the most famous goggle wearer in the history of the nba he started using his signature goggles in 1975 and he would continue wearing them throughout his entire 20-year career although it looked fashionable
Kareem didn’t wear those goggles to look good he wore them to prevent other players from poking his eyes standing at a whopping 7 foot 2 inches kareem was a tall player but his height also worked as a disadvantage he was often poked in the eyes by defenders contending for the ball his first experience of being poked in the eyes was during his college days at ucla during one of the games against the university of houston his corny was scratched and this repeated itself
During another game with rival usc when kareem was selected with the first overall pick in the 1969 draft by the milwaukee bucks he thought his days of being poked in the eyes was over however his greatest fear of being poked in the eyes came back to haunt him in the nba during a preseason game against the boston celtics kareem played at his best as usual and as a player tried to stop him he caught a fingernail in his left eye karim displayed his anger by
Punching the backboard stanction so hard that he broke two bones in his right hand immediately this caused him to miss the first 16 games of the season but he returned wearing protective goggles kareem then joined the los angeles lakers in 1975 and he continued wearing his protective goggles for a few years until he decided to abandon them in the 1979 playoffs however this was a bad decision for him as he was accidentally poked in the right eye the following
Year this time around karim knew that there was no going back so he continued wearing those protective goggles from 1989 until he retired unfortunately after several years of being jabbed in the eyes he developed a condition known as corneal erosion syndrome he would often experience pain because of the scar tissue that had formed on the cornea making his eyes dry up easily he missed three games in december 1986 because of this condition kareem would
End up winning five of his six nba championships with lakers wearing those same goggles on his retirement he received standing ovations from both home and away his former teammate magic johnson recalls that in abdul jabar’s farewell game many lakers and celtics legends participated every player wore abdul-jabbar’s trademark goggles and had to try a skyhook at least once which led to some comic results kareem abdul-jabbar wore goggles to protect his
Eyes but we’ve seen other players wear them over the years for several other reasons before contact lenses and corrective eye surgery became popular players like kurt rambis and horus grant wore goggles on the court to help them see better in fact in 2017 lebron james suffered a corneal abrasion in his right eye so he decided to show up in his next game wearing a pair of goggles he appeared uncomfortable with them so he removed them just after nine minutes of
Playing so there you have it guys that’s the saga of kareem abdul-jabbar and his famous goggles thank you for watching this video before you leave don’t forget to hit the like button and subscribe for more interesting nba related videos
