-Welcome back.
-Thank you so much, Jimmy.
-Kareem, it's always good to see you.
Thank you so much for being here.
You look great. -I'm trying.
-You were -- You were born and raised in New York City.
-Yes. -Yeah.
And I was doing a little research
about your earlier days. And I read somewhere
that you were friends with Billy Crystal.
-Yes. -How did you guys
become friends? -Well, you know,
I went to high school here in Manhattan at Power Memorial.
And one of Billy's best friends went to -- was my classmate.
And he always wanted me to come out
and hang out in Long Beach, Long Island.
-Yeah. -It's just...
[ Crowd cheers ] It's too far for me.
I lived at the other end of Manhattan.
[ Laughter ]
Finally, before we graduated, I went out there
to visit Neil, our mutual friend.
So, we went over to Billy's house.
And his mother answers the door and says, "Billy's not here.
You guys better come back in an hour or two.
He's over with his friends, doing something."
And we couldn't find him.
And - But the funniest thing about that was,
Billy's mom, from that point on, said, "Oh, I've known --
I've known Kareem longer than Billy has."
[ Laughter ]
-Technically, yeah, she's right. She technically knows --
Yeah, she's right. Was he -- Was he funny?
-He was always funny. -Yeah.
Did you play basketball with him?
-No, but we played a game of badminton.
[ Laughter ]
It's kind of tough on him 'cause all I had to do was
stand at the net and hold my racquet up like that.
[ Laughter ] -Whssh! Yeah, yeah.
Maybe we'll get a rematch one day.
-Maybe, maybe.
-The NBA playoffs wrapped up a few nights ago.
Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics...
[ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah.
-...to become the NBA champions.
Steph Curry was just making 3-pointers.
That guy is just unbelievable. Never seen anything like that.
When you were playing, were there people
that shot like that? -Not like that.
But there were good 3-point shooters,
we thought, at that time.
But earlier on,
you might get 10 3-point shots in a game.
Now there's 10, 20 3-point shots in a quarter.
-Yeah, exactly.
-It seems like it's a 3-point shooting contest.
People enjoy it, and you know, they should.
I -- I was the -- I am, still,
the all-time leading scorer in the NBA.
And I only made one 3-point shot.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Wow.
I mean, That's not --
Just 'cause that was not --
that's not your thing.
-No, but the coach says, "Look,
you shoot the ball from in here.
If you come out here and shoot, you can come sit down with me."
[ Laughter ]
-But you only shot one 3-point shot.
-Just one. -One.
-1986. -Yes.
[ Laughter ] -And it was an accident.
You know, I ran out to the corner
to get a rebound, and I was out there all alone.
They didn't want to come guard me.
I turned around and made the 3-pointer.
-We actually have found the footage.
Here's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's first and only 3-point shot
of his career. Take a look.
-Cooper misses from 18. Kareem hustles.
Gets it. -Shoot a 3-pointer.
-He's going to do it. -3!
That's the first one of his life.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Come on, bud. [ Laughs ]
That's how you do it.
-2,099. -Yeah.
-And I'm gonna be catching Steph Curry.
[ Laughter ]
-You're really close to Steph Curry.
Yeah, you better watch out, Steph.
He's real close.
The NBA has named an award after you.
It is the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award.
-Yeah. -And every year,
the award goes to a player that helps to drive equality
for historically marginalized communities.
You've said this before -- You said, "I can do more
than stuff a ball through a hoop.
The greatest asset is my mind."
And what does that mean to the next generation
following your lead, off the court?
-I think the NBA has done a great job
of encouraging the players to do what they can
to help the communities where they play.
You know, we provide a lot of entertainment.
But people need real help.
So, the fact that they've named this award after me
is very gratifying to me.
But what it does for the communities
that these guys try to help -- I mean, that --
those are the things that lift us all, and...
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's amazing what you've done.
And we've talked about it. You've been on the show before.
But Juneteenth was yesterday.
And when it became a federal holiday, last year,
you said that you were more relieved than happy.
Can you explain that?
-Well, I think it's been too long.
You know, it took us -- It took too long
before people started thinking about celebrating that
nationwide. -Yeah.
-It was only in the black community,
where it's been celebrated for many years.
But I think that the things that make America great,
we're always anxious to talk about it.
But we can't talk about the things that are tough
here in America.
And if we don't talk about them, we can't ever change them.
So, as long as we can get to the point
that we can talk about these things,
we can make positive change.
And that's what it should be all about.
-Yeah, good. I'm glad.
[ Cheers and applause ]
On top of everything you do,
you're also an award-winning writer.
We've talked about this on the show when you come on.
You get writing awards --
You actually have more writing awards
than you have NBA championships.
Last year, you started a Substack.
-Yeah. -You write about everything.
You write about political issues.
You reviewed "Top Gun," I thought was interesting.
What's it like being your editor in chief?
-Well, you know, it's always -- It's tough
when your ideas and your editor's ideas don't mesh.
That's difficult. But I don't have that problem.
And you know, I can be Kareem the sports commentator,
Kareem the political commentator.
I can be Kareem the ordinary journalist.
-Restaurant reviewer. -Yeah. You name it.
And I'm always down for a free meal.
[ Laughter ]
-Me too, me too. Count me in, count me in.
[ Applause ]
I want to mention your charity, the skyhook foundation.
I love this.
I love what you do. Especially I love helping kids.
And you're doing something very, very cool
with this artist named Charlie Palmer.
-Charlie Palmer, yeah. -He created this portrait
of you. Look at this.
Yeah. Amazing.
[ Cheers and applause ]
There are 500 of these?
-There's 500, and we're selling them.
You can go to kareemabduljabbar.com
if you want to buy one.
And the proceeds go to the Skyhook Foundation
to help keep us above water so that we don't drown.
We take kids out into the forest,
the Angeles National Forest.
and they do S.T.E.M. and S.T.E.A.M. programs.
-Learn how to program, do everything.
But also learn how to look at a tree.
-How to look at a tree, water quality, soil quality,
flora and fauna.
And it helps the kids learn that the world is bigger
than their little neighborhood in L.A.
A lot of them haven't ever been out of their neighborhood.
And they can see the Angeles National Forest
from their neighborhood, but they've never been there.
So, you know, we're expanding their world
and making it possible for them to find out, you know,
what's out there in the world that they can hook onto
that will give them a meaningful life.
-I love that, Kareem. Thank you for doing that.
Thank you so much for being here.
For more information on the Skyhook Foundation
and Kareem's Substack visit kareemabduljabbar.com.
Kareem and I are doing something fun after the break.
Stick around. Come on back. -Come on back.