Kareem Abdul Jabbar's Net Worth Reflects His Impressive Career On and Off the Court

Legendary NBA star Kareem Abdul Jabbar is one of the most notable figures in basketball. He began playing at UCLA in 1965 before being drafted by the NBA in 1969. He landed with the Milwaukee Bucks after being offered and declining $1 million from the Harlem Globetrotters. He excelled with the team until 1975, when Jabbar was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he remained until retiring in 1989.

Most of his wealth stems from his sports profession. However, Jabbar has also made money moves in other ventures, such as coaching and even film, which has allowed the player to showcase his other talents.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar Has Earned Numerous Accolades

During Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s rookie year with the Bucks, reportedly making him $1.4 million, he quickly became a shining star on the team. Standing at 7-foot-2, Jabbar earned honors, including Rookie of the Year, an NBA Championship, an NBA Finals MVP, and three NBA Most Valuable Player awards. Additionally, Jabbar was a two-time scoring champion. In one standout moment, on February 21, 1970, the iconic player scored 51 points in a 140–127 victory over the SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder).

Jabbar reportedly signed a $650,000 contract with the Lakers in 1975 and continued dominating on the court. However, he earned a lucrative deal with Adidas while with the team, becoming the NBA player to ink a sneakers endorsement. During his tenure in Los Angeles, Jabbar racked up another five NBA Championships and was crowned NBA Finals MVP. Though the details surrounding each of his contracts are unknown, according to Basketball Reference, Abdul-Jabbar made around $8.5 million in the last four years of his professional playing career with the Lakers.

Coaching Came After his NBA Career

Though Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn’t immediately jump into the coaching arena, he eventually got an opportunity years after retiring. In the early 2000s, he landed a coaching job with the now-defunct United States Basketball League. In 2002, he led his team, the Oklahoma Storm, to a championship. Two years later, Jabbar earned a job as a scout for the New York Knicks, again using his expertise to help the league select some of the best talent.

In 2005, Jabbar returned to Los Angeles, where he assisted former head coach Phil Jackson. He remained a special assistant coach until 2011. During that time, he helped hone the skills of then-rookie Andrew Bynum. It’s unknown how much Jabbar was paid to work on the coaching staff, but he called out the team for paying him pennies compared to Jackson.

“For example, I had to take a cut in salary. At the same time, they tell me I had to take a cut in salary they’re paying the (head) coach $10 million-$12 million a year,” he said in a 2011 interview with ESPN’s Mike & Mike in the Morning.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar Dabbled in Books and Film

Before his basketball career came to a close, Kareem Abdul Jabbar was already dabbling in film and television. In 1972, he made his cinematic debut in Bruce Lee’s Game of Death. Years later, he once again appeared on the big screen in 1980, Airplane, where he portrayed a co-pilot. From there, he has made countless appearances in productions, as himself and scripted characters. His acting resume includes Fletch, Troop Beverly Hills, Full House, Living Single, Everybody Loves Raymond, Martin, Different Strokes, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, to name a few. Jabbar also held a recurring role as himself on the NBC comedy Guys with Kids. Jabbar took his love for television to new heights, landing a writing gig on the revived version of Veronica Mars, which debuted in July 2019.

Writing was nothing new to Jabbar, who co-authored his autobiography Giant Steps, in 1983. Other titles include On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance, and Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, World War II’s Forgotten Heroes, which tells the story of the first all-Black armored fighters in World War II. In 2015, Jabbar co-penned his first adult fiction mystery novel, Mycroft Holmes, followed by sequels Mycroft and Sherlock (2018) and Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage (2019).