Will Court Hear Kareem v. Karim?

Kareem is suing Karim.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, is asking a judge to bar Karim Abdul-Jabbar, a running back for the Miami Dolphins, from using that name, court papers showed Thursday.

The former center for the Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks also wants a federal judge to award him damages and immediately stop the sale of merchandise with the Dolphin running back’s name on it.

Both men attended UCLA, but more than 25 years apart, before starting their professional careers.

According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles, lawyers for Abdul-Jabbar contacted Sharmon Shah two years ago, after Shah had decided to change his name to Karim Abdul-Jabbar, suggesting that he reconsider.

The elder Abdul-Jabbar, who took that name in 1968 after converting to Islam, claims there are too many similarities between the two, one of which is that he wore No. 33 as a player and the football player also wears that number.

The elder Abdul-Jabbar’s birth name was Lew Alcindor.

Shah, born a Muslim, “could have adopted a wide range of names other than Karim Abdul-Jabbar to replace his then-current name,” the suit states.

And “from all of the numerals available to him,” Shah “selected . . . 33, to appear on his football jersey, both in college at UCLA and for the Miami Dolphins team, with the name ‘Abdul-Jabbar’ appearing above it on the back of the jersey,” the complaint says.