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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is stepping again into certainly one of his most iconic off-court roles — and maybe certainly one of Hollywood’s most famed onscreen top variations — along with his newest Adidas collab.
The six-time NBA MVP, New York Instances bestselling creator and scorer of 38,387 factors has re-teamed with the sportswear firm on the Jabbar Lo x Bruce Lee assortment ($40 to $100), which pays tribute to the Corridor of Famer and his friendship along with his Sport of Demise co-star within the type of yellow suede sneakers — nodding to Lee’s notorious jumpsuit that impressed Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Invoice costumes — and graphic tees with scenes of the basic martial arts movie. (For the file, Abdul-Jabbar was 18 inches taller than his five-foot-eight pal.)
The intense yellow kicks are completed with Abdul-Jabbar’s trademark skyhook silhouette and Lee’s “kick” motif (each in gold foil) together with the martial arts icon’s signature on the heel and a customized sockliner impressed by the duo. The Lakers legend first teamed with Adidas in 1978 when he was the primary NBA participant to ink an endorsement deal and launch a signature shoe. The brand new collab is now out there on-line and in shops at Shoe Palace and can roll out globally starting on Sept. 13 at Adidas‘ web site and shops and at different retailers.
Abdul-Jabbar studied martial arts underneath Lee and starred as Hakim the Mantis reverse the Chinese language-American actor in Sport of Demise, which started filming in 1972 and was launched in 1978 (5 years after Lee handed away) with authentic and new footage. Along with TV and music video cameos all through the years, the NBA nice was most just lately seen onscreen in visitor roles in Billions and Evening Courtroom.
On what it takes for him to say “sure” to new appearing gigs, the 78-year-old multi-hyphenate informed The Hollywood Reporter, “So long as it’s not very damaging, I’d take it. You recognize, if you’re a child, you assume, ‘I can play Superman!’ Then you definitely get a bit of [sense of] what actors should undergo in an effort to get us to consider them, so studying that has made me humbled. And it’s nonetheless giving me an incentive to possibly take one other function.”
Adidas Originals Jabbar Lo x Bruce Lee basketball sneakers, $100, at Shoe Palace.
Adidas
Abdul-Jabbar sat down with THR on Saturday at Shoe Palace‘s pop-up for the Adidas collab in L.A.’s Chinatown, steps away from the seven-foot statue commemorating his late pal, who died in 1973 of a cerebral edema on the age of 32. The three-day pop-up additionally featured the prolific Substack columnist‘s two inspiring new books (co-written with longtime collaborator Raymond Obstfeld), We All Need to Change the World and the graphic novel Champion; and Shannon Lee’s bestselling ebook, Be Water My Good friend.
Earlier than becoming a member of a panel dialogue with enterprise supervisor Deborah Morales and Bruce Lee Basis managing associate David Chang, the 19-time NBA All-Star (and occasional contributing editor) additionally mentioned about his graphic novel illustrated by Ed Laroche, how he’s teaching the following technology of basketball gamers and extra.
Launched as we speak, the 128-page Champion follows a highschool basketball participant who places his NBA aspirations in jeopardy after getting caught graffitiing at a rival staff’s faculty — however the story isn’t fairly an autobiographical one. “No, I simply use [him as a way to] assist me clarify a couple of issues,” he informed THR. (No. 33 superfans would possibly recall that his father was a NYC transit police officer, in any case.)
‘Champion: A Graphic Novel’ by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
Along with his new Adidas kicks, Abdul-Jabbar additionally confirmed up on Saturday in his newest Kareem vs. Bruce assortment ($45 to $95) of limited-edition T-shirts and hoodies.
“I feel [Bruce] could be pleased with it as a result of it’s about values. That’s the principle factor: self-defense is about values, it’s all combined in collectively. Like I did with my kids, train them the appropriate and mistaken, learn to struggle, however don’t be a bully. In case you do know the way to struggle, and individuals are appearing loopy, generally you must do one thing. That angle, that way of living, is admittedly necessary,” he stated.
The retired Laker remains to be teaching the NBA’s brightest — however by way of their wallets. He’s the namesake of the league’s Social Justice Champion Award, now in its fifth yr. Boston Celtics guard Jrue Vacation was named the 2024-25 recipient of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy for his work by way of the Jrue and Lauren Vacation Social Impression Fund, which is “about giving younger individuals an concept about what their future might be, which is admittedly necessary,” stated Abdul-Jabbar.
“The massive factor I attempt to concentrate on is I’m attempting to get up the blokes within the NBA. They’ve all this cash [and] their tax-exempt donations might do a number of good elsewhere, so I need to encourage them,” he continued. “We have now a contest to see who does the most effective, and we give them $100,000 for them to make use of in no matter it’s that’s necessary to them. These items snowball. That’s the entire thing.”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the Bruce Lee statue in historic Central Plaza in Chinatown, Los Angeles, on Aug. 30, 2025.
BFA
At Saturday’s panel, Abdul-Jabbar revealed how his late pal’s philosophy guided him all through life and mirrored on Lee’s most famed quote (“Soak up what is helpful, and discard what will not be. Add what’s uniquely your individual.”)
“That philosophy is one which tells you to mainly be pragmatic. Use the issues which are helpful, and the issues that aren’t helpful, what are you going to do with them? Put them within the trash. However the issues that can assist you to, like the basics of basketball, have been some issues I needed to work on. By doing that, it made me profitable. Making an attempt to do the issues that aren’t going that will help you, you mainly can’t do anyway — don’t waste your time. Go forward and do issues that you understand will make you profitable, and I feel the chance to have a bonus it doesn’t matter what it’s that you simply do,” he defined.
“Whereas I used to be enjoying at UCLA, I received poked within the eye and I couldn’t play for a few video games. I used to be actually depressed about that. Simply by having labored with Bruce and understanding his concepts about being prepared, all I knew I needed to do was, ‘Let’s prepare once more, you’re gonna should be prepared if you step on the court docket once more,’ and I used to be. … When you possibly can’t do what you assume you’re right here to do, it’s miserable. [Lee’s teachings] enabled me to cope with all of the ups and downs of my profession,” recalled Abdul-Jabbar.
The NBA legend additionally shared recollections of visiting the Lee family, together with the martial arts grasp’s then-young daughter and son, Shannon and Brandon. (Brandon Lee died at 28 after being fatally wounded by a prop gun whereas filming The Crow.)
“I needed to be Shannon’s pony. She would experience me round the home till there was one thing else to do. I actually loved understanding her and Brandon,” he remembered. “Brandon needed to beat me up. He’d say since his dad might beat me up, he ought to have the ability to beat me up. I needed to disavow him of that thought.”
About that 18-inch top distinction. When requested if he was ever aggressive in opposition to Lee, Abdul-Jabbar quipped, “No. I wasn’t gonna try to struggle him! He had no probability of dunking on me. He had his sphere and I had mine. He confirmed me the way to use my benefits [and] how to not be taken benefit of in ways in which my top would possibly work in opposition to me. I used to be all the time conscious of that,” he stated.
Hear the NBA icon discuss concerning the first time he met Lee within the video from THR beneath, and store the Jabbar Lo x Bruce Lee assortment on-line now at shoepalace.com and at Adidas and past beginning Sept. 13.
