The great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and former Milwaukee Bucks center has met the team owner Herb Kohl, but hasn’t discussed the potential of taking on an ownership role with the Bucks. Kareem is interested in doing so with an NBA team, however. Per the Milwaukee Business Journal:
“Being involved in the business of basketball is something I wouldn’t shy away from,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “But it would have to be a good situation for me. It would depend totally on what the situation was.”
So what kind of situation would meet the all-time NBA scoring leader’s goals? Financial upside would be necessary, he said.
“Something where I had some equity in the team, so that what I would get an opportunity to benefit from it,” he said.
If Abdul-Jabbar does invest in an NBA team, he said he would want to play a role in setting a team’s direction.
“Oh yeah, I’d have to have some say,” he told me. “I wouldn’t have to have all of it.”
“The whole thing about success in professional sports has a lot to do with luck, but you’ve got to put yourself in a position to get lucky,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
The reason the Lakers were successful for decades was the masterful management of Jerry West and Bill Sharman, Abdul-Jabbar said.
“The Lakers traded Gail Goodrich to the Jazz for a draft pick, who ended up being Magic (Johnson),” Abdul-Jabbar said. “The Lakers put themselves in a position to get lucky. You have to know the players, understand who can help you and do your best to get them. You’ve got to sign the right guys.”
