Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain had a legendary rivalry in the late 1950s and through the 1960s.
But Russell retired in 1969, and you’d think Chamberlain would have reigned unchallenged as the league’s top big man.
That didn’t happen.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then still known as Lew Alcindor, entered the league after winning three straight NCAA championships, and was an immediate sensation.
When he joined the NBA for the 1969-70 season, Jabbar finished second in the league in scoring with 28.8 ppg, and third in rebounding, with 14.5 per game. Naturally, he was Rookie of the Year, and won his first championship in his second season.
When he entered the league, Chamberlain was 33, and his career was starting to wind down. He had had a knee injury in 1969 that was still an issue, and the coltish Jabbar was just getting started.
Nonetheless, Chamberlain had immense pride, and while he acknowledged that Jabbar was his greatest challenge ever as an NBA center, he always had something extra for him when they met.
As you’ll see in this video, these guys didn’t like each other when they played, but they had immense mutual respect.
It was a relatively brief rivalry, but in some ways more intense than the Chamberlain-Russell epic.
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