This day in 1969: Lew Alcindor debuts with 29 points and 12 rebounds as the Bucks beat the Pistons

Lew Alcindor, the player the world would soon know as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, played his first NBA game 57 years ago today, on Saturday, October 18, 1969, scoring 29 points with 12 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons 119-110 at Milwaukee Arena. It was the first night of a 20-season career that ended with more points than anyone had ever scored, and it turned a second-year expansion team into a contender almost overnight.

How the night unfolded

Alcindor started at center and played all 48 minutes. He made 12 of his 27 field-goal attempts and 5 of 8 free throws, and nobody on either side scored more. His matchup was a serious one: Walt Bellamy, a former Rookie of the Year, led Detroit with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and a perfect 7 of 7 at the line in just 29 minutes.

The rookie had help. Jon McGlocklin scored 23 on 9-of-14 shooting, Flynn Robinson added 23 of his own while going 9 for 9 from the line, and another first-year player, Bob Dandridge, chipped in 14 off the bench. Milwaukee shot 50 of 100 from the floor against 43 of 92 for Detroit. For the Pistons, Eddie Miles scored 21 and McCoy McLemore 19, while Dave Bing was held to 5 points in 17 minutes.

The game went out nationally on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and the broadcast survives in full, in color, which collectors of old game film describe as the oldest complete color telecast of an NBA game still in existence.

Why it mattered then

Milwaukee had gone 27-55 in its first season and only landed Alcindor by winning a coin flip with the Phoenix Suns, the other 1968 expansion team, for the first pick of the 1969 draft. After three national titles at UCLA, he arrived as the most anticipated rookie since Wilt Chamberlain, and the opener showed the expectations were reasonable rather than inflated.

Under coach Larry Costello, the Bucks finished 56-26, a 29-game improvement. Alcindor averaged 28.8 points and 14.5 rebounds, was named Rookie of the Year and made the All-Star team. Milwaukee beat Philadelphia 4-1 in the first round before losing to the eventual champion New York Knicks.

What it led to

In April 1970 the Bucks traded for Oscar Robertson, and in 1971, in only the franchise’s third season, Milwaukee swept the Baltimore Bullets for its first championship. Alcindor took the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that spring, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975 and won five more titles there.

He retired in 1989 with 38,387 points, a record that stood until LeBron James passed it in February 2023. The first 29 of those points came on an autumn Saturday in Milwaukee, against a veteran center who made him work for every one.