“That’s when I realized I better control my temper” - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the time he punched Kent Benson

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a top player as soon as he entered the NBA. Since he was unstoppable on offense, opponents tried to get under his skin to throw him off his game. Most of the time, it did not work, but one instance in 1977 showed Cap needed to adjust his approach to basketball.

In a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, 1977’s first overall pick Kent Benson shoved his elbow into Kareem’s body. Abdul-Jabbar despised what happened and retaliated with a sucker punch, knocking Benson down to the floor. In retrospect, this was surprising to see from Kareem as he mellowed out after this incident.

“ I decided if I could get my breath back, he was going to pay. It was a frightening experience for me because that’s when I realized I better control my temper at all times, no matter what the provocation. I could’ve killed him. Thinking about that really bothered me,” Kareem said a few years later.

Star players often get targeted

When a star player is too good, teams often play extra physical to dissuade him from producing big numbers. Kareem had to go through that because he was a dominant force who could out-score everyone else.

Michael Jordan also experienced that during the 1980s when he had to endure the Jordan Rules tactic that the Detroit Pistons deployed . It worked for a handful of years, but MJ started to come into his own, and the rest of his team followed in his footsteps.

Shaquille O’Neal also experienced this as he endured physical basketball. Thankfully, he was so powerful that many teams could not hurt him. They intentionally fouled him to exploit his biggest weakness in free-throw shooting but still struggled against him.

The same thing happened to Kareem years before those superstars, as teams could not find ways to stop Abdul-Jabbar’s offensive dominance. Benson was a top player but was still young, playing against the NBA’s best player. He tried to catch up to Kareem by playing physically, but he went too far with the elbow to the mid-section, which led to Benson getting a mild concussion from the punch.

Kareem became a calmer player

After that incident with Benson, Kareem learned to become more of a calm player. He was more of an unpretentious athlete, as he only played his game and rarely had any conflicts against the opposing players. There might have been some physical moments, but it never got to the point where he would sucker punch his opponent like he did against Kent.

While conflicted, Benson forgave Abdul-Jabbar because he felt Kareem went through a valid punishment. He broke his hand from the punch and got handed the league’s record fine.

“He hit me so hard he broke his hand. He was out 21 games and had the largest fine in NBA history at the time. That gave me an opportunity to learn about forgiveness. I had forgiven him. It was hard to do, no doubt,” Benson said in an interview.

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