He was born Chris Jackson, before changing his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf as he had converted to Islam. He had in the gym range with incredible quickness and a great handle, so if you sagged off, he made you pay, but if you played him tight he’d drive past you; and if you fouled him, well he was one of the best free throw shooters of all time. He became one of the most legendary high school players in Mississippi state history before going on to have a historic freshman season with the LSU Tigers. In his sophomore year he was joined by future NBA player, Stanley Roberts and hall of famer, Shaquille O’Neal. After just two years of NCAA dominance, he declared for the draft and although his first couple of seasons didn’t go as planned, the Nuggets built a good team including hall of famer Dikembe Mutombo, but the Nuggets scoring leader of during the mid 90s was always Abdul-Rauf as he could fill it up effortlessly with surprising efficiency for a someone with his play style.
Unfortunately, a massive controversy regarding, similar to the controversy of Colin Kaepernick sent his NBA career off the rails as he refused to stand for the anthem, due to religious reasons, for the majority of the 1996 season until a compromise was made with David Stern and the NBA. But at that point the damage was done and he was quickly traded to Sacramento where after a couple decent seasons, his NBA prospects seemed all but gone. He spent a little bit of time on a club in Turkey in 1999 before retiring. He would come back to the NBA briefly in 2001 with the Vancouver Grizzlies before ending hanging it up after 41 games. Nowadays you can catch him in the BIG 3 league doing everything he used to do… and I forgot to mention, he accomplished all of this while suffering from Tourette’s syndrome. So, although his career didn’t turn out to be as promising as it once seemed, it was by no means a lack of talent or ability that stalled his trajectory. But the anthem controversy consistently overshadows his playing career, so today we’re going to take a deeper dive into the career of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, formerly Chris Jackson. Let’s jog your memory.
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