Los Angeles Lakers greatest scorers: 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
It was a struggle to try and figure out where in the world to put Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on these rankings. After all, he’s the NBA’s all-time career scoring leader, but he also didn’t spend his entire career or even his full prime with the Lakers. In fact, he ranks third in terms of points scored all time with the Lakers. However, the No. 2 spot is ultimately where Kareem settled.
Over his 14 seasons with Los Angeles, Kareem put up 22.1 points per game. That rate ranks sixth all time for the Lakers. As stated previously, he also ranks third in terms of total scoring with the Lakers, amassing 24,176 points over the course of his tenure with the Lakers. Even toward the end of his career, Jabbar always had the Skyhook and always knew how to put the ball through the bottom of the net. His remarkable consistency and longevity as a scorer isn’t worthless in this situation.
By many calculations, Kareem is the greatest scorer in the history of the NBA because, well, no player has ever scored more points in a career than Kareem did. However, in terms of the Lakers history, he falls just short of that mark. Had he spent more time in Los Angeles, that might not be the case. But only 14 years were spent in LA, thus knocking him off the top rung of the ladder.