Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired from the NBA following the 1988-89 season as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points to his name. He remains the league’s scoring leader to this day. A 7’ 2” basketball phenom, he led UCLA to three consecutive NCAA titles (1967 to ’69) before embarking on a prolific professional career where he captured his first NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 before helping lead the Los Angeles Lakers to five league titles during the 1980’s.
This amazing lot features his game-used and dual-signed sneakers from his final regular-season game in the NBA on April 23, 1989 at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California, against the visiting Seattle SuperSonics. In a hard-fought 121-117 victory for the Lakers, the 41-year-old center played 26 minutes and scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds. The Lakers made it all the way back to the NBA Finals that season, but lost to the Eastern Conference Champion Detroit Pistons in four games. It marked Kareem’s eighth trip to the NBA Finals in 10 years as a member of the Lakers.
The backstory regarding the provenance of these shoes is
well-worth sharing. A voluptuous dark-haired beauty from Biloxi, Miss., by
the name of Brenda Venus met Kareem in 1981 while working out at a local
gym in L.A. Having purchased many pairs
of shoes for Kareem during the course of their relationship – even
having a pair of moccasins made for him that he wore quite often – Venus
requested that he give her a pair of his basketball shoes from his
final season. She even asked him for the last pair of shoes that he wore
in the last game of his career, which ended up being Game 4 of the 1989
NBA Finals. Instead of those shoes,
Kareem gave her this pair of L.A. Gear shoes from his last
regular-season game. “In June of 1989, Kareem presented the shoes to me
at my home, sat on the sofa and signed his name on the shoes in front of
me,” she recalled. The former model/actress and Playboy columnist has an
impressive IMDb page and is now a best-selling author on seduction and
pleasure. See her lovely photos attached, including one wearing the 1987 Lakers ring that Kareem gave her (Lot 832).
The L.A. Gear “Airstream” model #B423 shoes (size 16) sport a white, purple and yellow color way and show outstanding game use. The rubber soles show slight deterioration over time while the crackling leather and tongue exhibit serious signs of wear. “Airstream” appears in purple and “L.A. Gear” appears in yellow embroidery on the outer sides of both shoes, while “L.A. Gear” is embroidered in purple on the heels of either shoe. The original white shoelaces remain intact on both shoes and Kareem signed both sneakers
“Abdul-Jabbar” in black marker. What an incredible piece of game-worn basketball history from the league’s greatest scorer of all time!
Autographs pre-certified by PSA/DNA.
Letter of provenance from Brenda Venus.