Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an American former professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.

When did Kareem become Kareem?

He was a record three-time MVP of the NCAA Tournament. Drafted with the first overall pick by the one-season-old Bucks franchise in the 1969 NBA draft, Alcindor spent six seasons in Milwaukee. After leading the Bucks to its first NBA championship at age 24 in 1971, he took the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Where did Jabbar grow up?

Kareem Abdul Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., on April 16, 1947, in New York City, the only child of Ferdinand and Cora Alcindor. He grew up in middle-class circumstances in Inwood, an upper Manhattan neighborhood.