Kareem Would Make Every Game a Benefit

Far be it from me, or anybody else, to advise Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that he may or may not, must or must not, should or should not return to professional basketball. While I might lecture, say, Wilt Chamberlain that he should be reissued another jockstrap only if it came attached to a chastity belt, my only suggestion on a possible comeback by Mr. Abdul-Jabbar is that it ought to be entirely left up to Mr. Abdul-Jabbar.

Should he play in the NBA?

Your call, Kareem. If your body and soul say yes, and if your standards (as opposed to the rims) have not been raised impossibly high and, first and foremost, if your mission is to raise money for AIDS research as a gesture to personal friends of yours ranging from Ryan White to Earvin Johnson, then, by all means, unpack your uniform.

Should he rejoin the Lakers?

Your call, Kareem. Don’t let anybody hustle you that playing for anybody else would constitute some form of betrayal. Sure, your old team could use you; something tells me that at age 44, you could still beat out Jack Haley. But I know Don Nelson wouldn’t mind having you as a Golden State Warrior, and I know those Pats in your old hometown, Riley and Ewing, could use you as a backup center. Opposing the Lakers would hardly qualify as insurrection.

A comeback for a good cause is one we should embrace, and if one life could be saved, or even prolonged, with whatever funds Abdul-Jabbar can accumulate through the offering of his professional services to a professional basketball organization, then good. If the Lakers can only spring a million bucks but the Bucks can go two, then it’s even OK by me if Abdul-Jabbar ends up returning to Milwaukee. The world does turn.

Mainly, the man should do whatever he pleases. Talk-show talkers who speculate that an athlete is plainly embarrassing himself by performing at levels far below ones of his youth haven’t a clue as to what makes some athletes tick. John McEnroe argues, often in a vacuum, that nothing is wrong with being one of the 20 or even 100 greatest players in one’s field, merely because one previously ranked among the greatest two or three.

Absolutely. Have we not enjoyed watching George Foreman chatter and box? Simply because Bjorn Borg or Mark Spitz are only shells of their former selves athletically does not diminish their efforts or the reasons behind them. They hurt nobody by trying. They aren’t pathetic. Not trying is pathetic.

“If you’re only talking about 10 or 15 minutes a game, Kareem’s just as good as anybody else’s backup (center) right now,” Johnson said Sunday.

So the old gray (or bald) mare ain’t what she used to be; big deal. The Lakers gave Abdul-Jabbar a farewell tour, a rocking chair and a Rolls-Royce because neither party could afford having him continue to be paid and played like a superstar. For 15 minutes a night at a limited wage, however, why not?

There is a difference in some team sports if, say, Jim Palmer is to be presented the baseball with eight other people behind him waiting for it to get hit. Abdul-Jabbar can be eased into a game cautiously, carefully, whenever the coach feels like it, and inserted and removed from it at will. If Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t mind remaking himself into a Mychal Thompson, and if the price is right, then hey, you, the big fellow in the stands, come on down.

For those who missed it, Abdul-Jabbar volunteered the other day that coming out of retirement has “crossed my mind” ever since his ally Magic’s announcement that HIV was lowering the curtain on his career. As a charity benefit, Abdul-Jabbar and a doctor acquaintance, Julius Erving, have scheduled a Feb. 28 one-on-one event at an Atlantic City casino. But that’s not all that has been crossing Kareem’s mind.

Even if he misses the competition, conversation, money, travel or simply the esprit de corps of his days and nights in the NBA, the motive for a comeback should be his and his alone. To be truthful, I am not all that convinced that Abdul-Jabbar actually would improve the Lakers, even with Vlade Divac absent, because wisdom and skill do not always outweigh youthful energy and desire. The Lakers should feel no moral commitment to keep Kareem theirs.

No law states that an athlete cannot give benefit performances, same as an entertainer, provided someone is willing to foot the bill. If Abdul-Jabbar can do more by putting his skills on display than by putting his hand forth for donations, then we should welcome him back to basketball, in any color uniform.