When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penned open letter to rookies about educating themselves

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has always been a winner and an outspoken personality. He is not afraid to take a stand and impart wisdom on the next generation. He has often praised and criticized the young stars of the NBA.

Abdul-Jabbar has embarked on many ventures after hanging up his basketball shoes. He is a media personality and a prolific writer. He has his own substack publication and has written for many magazines and newspapers.

The Lakers legend once utilized those writing skills to pen a letter to give some advice to incoming rookies about to begin their NBA careers. He wrote an article in the Guardian before the 2018-19 season.

What advice did Kareem give to rookies?

In the letter, he detailedhis own rookie season and gives advice on how to deal with newfound stardom. Abdul-Jabbar told funny stories of how he avoided rookie hazing and how he sometimes made rookies on his team do him favors. For instance, he got a young Magic Johnson to deliver his newspaper.

He tried to strike a balance between easing the rookie’s potential fears while also giving some advice on what was headed their way. He gave them praise for making it this far and then reminded them how much more there was to work for as their NBA career began.

“So, yeah, you have nothing to prove – and everything to prove,” Adbul-Jabbar wrote.

Adbul-Jabbar went into detail about how he dealt with the hype surrounding him when he was drafted. He said how crippling it was at times.

“I’d been the first person drafted and the media directed intense attention at me about what I was going to do and how I was going to do it,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “All the hype left me thinking that this was mine to screw up.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said the NBA game was a bit different than the college game. However, he talked down the differences and said it did not take long for him to excel at the pro level.

“It took me about 10 games before I figured it all out then began dominating as I had in college,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest players of all time. He is second all-time in scoring. He won six NBA championships. He was MVP of the league six times. He was a two-time scoring champion and 19-time All-Star.