The Showtime era was arguably the most exciting time to be a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers.
After all, the Los Angeles Lakers fans witnessed the dynamic duo of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson lead the team to five NBA titles during the 1980s.
Moreover, the Lakers were finally on equal footing with their longtime NBA rivals, the Boston Celtics.
Evidently, the Showtime era players are still treated with immense respect by the Laker Nation around the globe.
While fans have often heard about the Showtime Lakers dominating on the court for nearly a decade, learning about the behind-the-scenes stories is always interesting.
Well, franchise legend, Abdul-Jabbar, recently shed some light on a couple of hilarious pranks that the players pulled off on each other.
“I remember one time I left Boston, and they had cut up my jeans. Well, they were getting even with me for some of the tricks I had played on them. We had a really good one where we switched shirts,” KAJ said on The Jennifer Hudson.
He added: “Two guys that used to hang out together, Larry Spriggs and Mike McGee, often dressed alike, and they came in one night wearing the same shirt, except Larry was a lot bigger than Mike.”
Now, that’s how to keep the locker room atmosphere light while building solid chemistry off the court.
As successful as the Lakers were during that era, some may wonder if these off-court pranks held the team back in performing even better on the hardwood.
Well, Abdul-Jabbar believes these pranks were one of the best ways for them to take care of ‘boredom’ as the Lakers legend pointed out that being a professional athlete is a repetitive process.
“Some part of a professional athlete, you gotta deal with boredom. You know, you gotta go someplace, you gotta study players, know ’em, you gotta go over ’em again, and once you get it down, it’s repetitive, and it’s boring.
“So we do the best we can to keep it light, entertain each other,” Kareem stated.
The Showtime Lakers’ five NBA titles during the 1980s are proof that these methods worked for every player on the roster.
