Celebrating Wilt on His Birthday

Wilt Chamberlain was the NBA's first superstar. Before Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, Chamberlain's swagger exuded of a Hollywood heartthrob who could also dunk on you.

Although Chamberlain - born on this day, August 21, 1936, is mainly known for his tenures with the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, the NBA legend played six seasons with the Warriors, both in Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Chamberlain averaged a whopping 41 points and 25 rebounds.

The Warriors center won MVP and Rookie of the Year in his first season. Doubt wasn't in Chamberlain's vernacular. Although Stephen Curry amazes crowds in San Francisco at the Chase Center, Chamberlain did it first. As the parallel player to Bill Russell, Chamberlain's game gravitated to the offensive side of the ball, whereas the Boston Celtics great played a more defensive-focused attack.

Although Russell won more NBA championships, Chamberlain's offense was the perfect rival to the Celtics legend. The two superstar centers were the yin to each other's yang. Ultimately, Chamberlain achieved championship twice in his decorated career, in 1976 with the 76ers and 1972 with the Lakers.

Before passing on Oct. 12, 1999, at 63, the NBA honored Chamberlain by adding the all-time center to the Top 50 Greatest Players in 50 years. Legendary centers like former Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal compared himself to the deceased Chamberlain.

"When you talk about the best in basketball, there's 50 names you could say. Really, 50 names you could say," O'Neal said. "From your father's era to your grandfather's era to my era to my kids' era, but when you talk about the most dominant, it's only two in all these eras... Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal."

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Chamberlain is the only NBA player to record 100 points in a game, proving O'Neal's point about the two being the most dominant players in the NBA's history.

Without Chamberlain, it's possible that O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Nikola Jokic, and Joel Embiid wouldn't exist.