When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired from the NBA in 1989, the NBA lost one of the best big men of all-time. The man retired as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and still holds that distinction to this day, nearly 30 years later.
Kareem has been well retired and when he stepped away from the game, it allowed other stars to be born. One star in particular was Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.
Bryant and Kareem are both Los Angeles Lakers legends in their own right but Kobe is the modern day Lakers hero. He’s led the Lakers to five NBA championships and he’s even climbed up to the top of the All-Time scoring list but he was unable to challenge Kareem for his crown.
Now as Kobe elects to hang it up and take his farewell tour, much like Kareem did in ’89, the great big man has something to say to the soon-to-be retired star.