A few months before they would meet in the 1982 NBA Finals, the two sides again engaged in a tense meeting at the Great Western Forum on Feb. 26. In the end, Magic and Kareem led L.A. to a hard-fought double overtime win over the Sixers.

Kareem was in rare form as Philadelphia had no one to guard him, and the big man went on to finish with 41 points and 19 rebounds. Magic, meanwhile, notched a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Lakers also got 24 points from Jamaal Wilkes to win their sixth straight game. Super-sub Andrew Toney led the 76ers with 27 points, while Dr. J finished with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Lakers and 76ers would meet in NBA Finals again

The two sides would eventually meet in the NBA Finals and once again the Lakers came out on top, defeating the Sixers in six games, just as they did two years prior. It wouldn’t be until the following year, when the 76ers added Hall of Famer Moses Malone, that they would finally get their revenge on the Lakers on the NBA’s grandest stage.

But on this night in Lakers history, it was Magic and Kareem who were once again unstoppable as they kept the Lakers on the path to their second NBA championship of the decade.

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When you play that long you are obviously going to set some records. Kareem’s scoring record is one that stood until 2023 when LeBron James passed him, but on Feb. 23, 1986, he made history in another way. As the Lakers took on the Philadelphia 76ers, Kareem passed fellow Hall-of-Famer Elvin Hayes to become the NBA’s all-time leader in games played with 1,304.

Abdul-Jabbar capped off the historic night with 28 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and seven blocks as the Lakers pulled out a hard-fought 117-111 overtime win over the Sixers.

The Lakers also got 34 points and 11 assists from Magic Johnson, as well as 22 points from Byron Scott in the victory to improve their record to to 41-14. Michael Cooper and A.C. Green each added 10 points off the bench, as the Lakers needed every bit of help on this night.

The Sixers’ big man duo of Moses Malone and Charles Barkley gave everything they had to get the win. Barkley finished with 24 points and 18 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end, while Malone had 27 points and 12 boards. Point guard Maurice Cheeks also added 18 points, nine assists, and four steals, but it just wasn’t enough in the end.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record ended up being broken

Nonetheless, the story on this night was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was clearly far from done as he showed in this performance. He would go on to finish his career with 1,560 games played in his career, a number that was ultimately passed by Robert Parish, who finished his career with 1,611.

Regardless, Kareem’s longevity and consistency remains something to be marveled at.

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During that time, the Lakers were in the midst of a rebuild and Zubac was only 21-years-old. He showed signs of being a quality center demonstrated the capability of a double-double big.

The Lakers have endless resources and plenty of successful centers who have walked through this organization. Zubac had all the tools to replicate the success he has had with Clippers with the team that drafted him, but they gave up on him prematurely.

Now reflecting on his time with the Lakers, the Zubac revealed a damning story of Johnson preventing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from mentoring and working out with him, via X&O’s CHAT:

“After a few workouts, he told me he wanted to mentor me and work for the Lakers. After that, he had a meeting with Magic, and I don’t know what happened there, but he never got a job with the Lakers. He wanted some kind of role with the team just to work with me and the big guys, but unfortunately that never happened.”

On the surface, Johnson refusing to hire Abdul-Jabbar to work with Zubac and the other centers on the team makes little sense. Perhaps what prevented this move from happening was giving the Hall of Famer a job description and compensation for his time, but that shouldn’t have happened.

Johnson was president of basketball operations for a handful of years before eventually stepping down. He did some good things during his tenure like getting LeBron James to sign, but how he handled Zubac sticks out as one of his biggest mistakes.

Now with Mark Walter as the majority owner, a mistake like this should never happen again. Money should not be a deciding factor on whether or not to keep a player, which has haunted the Lakers for the past handful of years.

Ivica Zubac fondly recalls working out with Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar

During Ivica Zubac’s departure from the Lakers, having an opportunity to work alongside one of the greatest centers ever in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Although things did not materialize into a long-form working relationship, Zubac still looks back fondly of putting in time with Abdul-Jabbar.

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But one Abdul-Jabbar achievement that probably doesn’t get talked about enough was the Hall-of-Famer’s longevity. Abdul-Jabbar played in 1,560 games over his 20-year career, and he accrued an all-time leading 57,446 minutes over that timespan.

Abdul-Jabbar took that lead on Feb. 14, 1986, and never looked back, jumping past Elvin Hayes’ then-NBA record of 50,000 minutes in the Lakers’ 141-117 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Abdul-Jabbar went on to play three more full seasons in which he compiled nearly 8,000 more minutes of action.

His scoring title was often talked about as unreachable until LeBron James passed him, but his minutes title is arguably even more challenging to pass. The next closest in minutes to Abdul-Jabbar is his fellow former Lakers big man Karl Malone, who finished his exceedingly durable career with nearly 3,000 minutes less than Abdul-Jabbar despite only playing in just 84 fewer games.

Other players close to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s minutes total

When account for both regular and postseason minutes, James actually passed Abdul-Jabbar in 2023.

Other than James, Jason Kidd came closest in recent years, but he still only managed 50,110 minutes during 1,391 NBA games, while Hayes (50,000), Kevin Garnett (49,863) and Dirk Nowitzki (50,102) round out the league’s top-six in minutes all-time. Kobe Bryant ranks 11th in league history with 46,774 career minutes.

Given current NBA rest trends in which teams try to save their players from accruing unnecessarily high minutes totals, it seems more and more unlikely by the year that anyone other than James will ever touch Abdul-Jabbar’s record, making it just another outstanding accomplishment for the perpetually underrated Lakers legend.

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No player in NBA history has ever been as good as LeBron has been this late into his career. And on Feb. 7, 2023, he made history.

In the third quarter of the Lakers’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, James hit a midrange fadeaway to surpass Abdul-Jabbar and becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Many stars and legends were on hand to witness history, including Kareem himself, and the two shared a moment commemorating the accomplishment at halfcourt.

It was undoubtedly one of the most gratifying moments in a career full of records being set and history being made. LeBron is not known as a scorer and yet nobody in NBA history has scored more than he has. With him playing at such a high level this later in his career, he may build up a point total high enough that will never be broken.

Who knows what the final number will be, but everyone will remember where they were to witness LeBron passing Kareem to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.

The Lakers may have lost the game to the young Thunder, but all of the focus was rightly on James and his historic accomplishment on that night.

LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most minutes played in NBA history

Unfortunately for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, his place atop another all-time list was surpassed by LeBron James as well. The Lakers superstar passed Kareem in all-time combined minutes played, both regular season and playoffs.

Back in November of 2023, LeBron took over the top spot of all-time minutes played, regular season and playoffs combined, during a game against the Philadelphia 76ers. While LeBron still trailed Kareem in terms of regular season minutes, he made up for it with more than 11,000 postseason minutes, or around four seasons worth of minutes in the playoffs alone.

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