On Oct. 18, 1969, 22-year-old Lew Alcindor played all 48 minutes and finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in a 119-110 Bucks win.

Only 7,782 people were in the building for the season opener. Twenty years and 38,387 points later, almost nobody would believe a crowd that small saw the start.

Milwaukee and Phoenix flipped for the No. 1 pick. Suns president Richard Bloch called heads; it came up tails. Phoenix took Neal Walk at No. 2.

The Bucks offered $1.4 million over five years. When the ABA Nets came back with a bigger offer, Alcindor turned it down because he had given Milwaukee his word.

Jon McGlocklin and Flynn Robinson scored 23 each. Bob Dandridge had 14 in his own debut. Milwaukee shot 50 percent and won the boards 52-34.

Milwaukee Bucks center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1974. Photo by Frank Bryan, The Sporting News Collection, resized.

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