1970 Topps #75 Lew Alcindor PSA NM-MT 8

1970 Topps #75 Lew Alcindor PSA 8 - The Skyhook Was Just Getting Started

The 1970 Topps #75 Lew Alcindor arrived after one of the most remarkable introductions to professional basketball the sport had ever witnessed. The oversized “Tall Boy” format gives the card an unmistakable presence, while its colorful design captures Alcindor at the beginning of what would become an unprecedented career. He had entered the NBA only one season earlier with enormous expectations following his dominance at UCLA—and somehow exceeded them, averaging 28.8 points and 14.5 rebounds as a rookie while earning NBA Rookie of the Year honors.

Graded PSA NM-MT 8, this second-year card offers an impressive combination of condition and early-career significance. The elongated 1970 Topps format is notoriously vulnerable to centering issues, corner wear, edge damage, and surface imperfections, making well-preserved examples increasingly compelling. More importantly, collectors are looking at Lew Alcindor before the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ever appeared on an NBA card—an early snapshot of a superstar whose legacy was still being constructed in Milwaukee.

And 1970-71 would become the season Alcindor took complete control of the league. At just 23 years old, he averaged 31.7 points and 16.0 rebounds, won his first NBA MVP Award, and carried the Milwaukee Bucks to the 1971 NBA championship, earning Finals MVP along the way. He would eventually become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, perfect the virtually indefensible skyhook, win six NBA championships and a record six league MVP Awards, and retire as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader—a mark he held for nearly four decades.