Gary Brokaw: Potential for Magic, 1974-78

As a youth, Brokaw tried to pattern his play after Walt Frazier and Dave Bing. Little did he know that several years later, it would be Frazier and Bing that would be his workaday opponents. 

Norm Van Lier: Stormy Weather, 1978

Even now, as he prepares to join the select circle of athletes who’ve lasted for a decade at the top, Van Lier treasures that advise. “First of all, I was taught to respect my coach and my opponent,” he says. “If a young player can’t learn to do that, he won’t respect himself.”

Bill Sharman: The Game I’ll Never Forget, 1972

“I don’t think there’s any way we could have won the title—or even gotten into the final round—if we had not defeated the Bucks in that second game. The last few seconds of that game were among the most unusual and dramatic I have ever seen in my many years in professional basketball.”

Artis Gilmore: Million-Dollar Baby on Display, 1972

Artis is neither Kareem Abdul-Jabbar nor Bill Russell. He is simply Artis Gilmore, a big, talented, quiet, young man, who, by the time this basketball season is over, will have made his presence felt not by comparison, but by his own accomplishments. 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Busting Out the Goggles, 1974

Kareem got off the bench, and the boos began. He was booed every time he put an elbow near Gianelli’s throat in the pivot, did anything the fans didn’t like, and when he entered and left the game

Bob Love: The Bodacious Butterbean, 1972

Through it all, Bob Love, the “defensive” forward, remained with Chicago, which was fine with Butterbean. He just wanted to play, knowing that if he ever got the green light, he’d be a star.

A Banner Day for Lakers: Kareem Takes His Post, 1975

The trade that changed the makeup of the Lakers happened Monday, June 16, 1975, when club owner Jack Kent Cooke announced he had sent four players—Brian Winters, Elmore Smith, David Meyers, and Junior Bridgeman—and a cash payment to the Bucks for Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley.