At the peak of his powers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of the most feared players in the NBA. That fear extended off the court as well, as he was known for being somewhat reserved around players, teammates, and the media. That said, his sense of humor was well known among those close to him, and his teammates were always open to playing pranks on him.<\/p>\n
While speaking to Jennifer Hudson, Kareem talked about the pranks that were, and still are, a part of NBA locker rooms. When Hudson asked if teammates played pranks on each other, he replied, \u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> legend went on to elaborate, explaining how, after a game in Boston, some of his teammates got together and cut up his jeans. The reason? They were getting back at Kareem for some of the pranks he had played on them before.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember one time I left Boston, and they had cut up my jeans,\u201d he recalled<\/a>. \u201cWell, they were getting even with me for some of the tricks I had played on them. We had a really good one where we switched shirts. Two guys that used to hang out together, Larry Spriggs and Mike McGee, often dressed alike, and they came in one night wearing the same shirt, except Larry was a lot bigger than Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take a genius to figure out what happened next. Kareem explained that McGee was once hit across the eye and had to leave to get stitches, but because the outfits had been switched, he ended up wearing Spriggs\u2019 shirt, which fit him like a blanket.<\/p>\n This side of Kareem may be new to most people, but he had a simple explanation for why he felt these pranks were essential. \u201cSome part of a professional athlete, you gotta deal with boredom,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, you gotta go someplace, you gotta study players, know \u2019em, you gotta go over \u2019em again, and once you get it down, it\u2019s repetitive, and it\u2019s boring. So we do the best we can to keep it light, entertain each other.\u201d<\/p>\n James Worthy, who shared the court with Kareem during their Lakers days, also recalled<\/a> that pranking the six-time MVP was one of the biggest mistakes you could make. Not because he\u2019d have an outburst, but because he would meticulously plan to get you back, no matter how long it took.<\/p>\n