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Inside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s bond with Bruce Lee: Friendship, philosophy, and martial arts

Originally posted on Ball Exclusives | By Titan Frey | Last updated Aug 14, 2025 1:06 PM ET

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is known to be one of the greatest players in NBA history. His skyhook shot is arguably the most unstoppable shot ever.

Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships, as well as a record six MVPs. Before he became the NBA legend we know him as today, he was a college superstar who was friends with and trained under the legendary Bruce Lee.

While playing basketball at UCLA, Abdul-Jabbar met Lee, who was teaching private lessons to Hollywood stars. In his youth, Abdul-Jabbar used to train in boxing. He also dabbled in a Japanese martial art.

Abdul-Jabbar wanted to get back into it. He ended up meeting Lee through an editor of Black Belt Magazine. The editor told Abdul-Jabbar about Lee’s unique style of martial arts. A style Lee created himself.

Lee wasn’t a fan of rigid, one-dimensional fighting styles. In his mind, fighters should be able to express themselves freely. They shouldn’t feel confined to a fixed set of movements.

This mindset led to Lee creating his own martial art named Jeet Kune Do, which means ‘The Way of the Intercepting Fist.’

Lee’s philosophy of martial arts helped inspire the birth of mixed martial arts. This includes the popular UFC. Lee was willing to teach anyone, and with his charismatic personality, Abdul-Jabbar found him to be the perfect teacher.

The Game of Death

As the two continued to train together, their friendship grew. While Abdul-Jabbar was starting to dominate the collegiate basketball scene, Lee was becoming a movie star in Hong Kong.

Lee starred in films such as The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and The Way of the Dragon, which Lee wrote and directed, as well. The next film Lee had planned on directing was called Game of Death.

Lee asked Abdul-Jabbar if he’d like to star in it with him. Abdul-Jabbar agreed. The story of Game of Death was to have Lee’s character make his way up a five-story pagoda. At each level, he’d fight a different master in an attempt to save his younger sister and brother, who were kidnapped. At the top of the pagoda would be Abdul-Jabbar, who would be portrayed as the best fighter.

Lee filmed a few scenes of the movie, including Abdul-Jabbar’s part, but he would put the movie on hold after Warner Bros. offered Lee a starring role in a Hollywood movie titled Enter the Dragon. This was the movie that made Lee a Hollywood legend.

Lee planned to finish Game of Death after Enter the Dragon, but sadly he passed away from cerebral edema. This was in 1973.

In 1978, other filmmakers finished Lee’s Game of Death and released it with obvious stunt doubles acting as Lee and using badly cut-out photos of the martial arts icon placed over stunt doubles’ faces.

The movie ultimately had a different storyline from what Lee intended. Overall, the movie wasn’t great, but the scenes filmed by Lee with Abdul-Jabbar are incredible.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s letter to Bruce Lee

Abdul-Jabbar wrote a beautiful letter about his friendship with Lee in 2023 when it was the 50th anniversary of Lee’s passing.

“Fifty years ago, I was on my way to visit Bruce Lee when I learned of his death,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “He was 32, and I was 25. He had been not only my martial arts teacher but my close friend, and I was still young enough to not yet have experienced much profound loss in my life, which is why his death hit me so hard.

“I felt like I’d tumbled overboard from a ship that had sailed on without me. I was alone in a vast dark ocean, bobbing up and down in the turbulent waves, struggling to tread water.

“If he’d lived, he’d have been 83 today—the same age as Chuck Norris, John Cleese, Al Pacino, Lily Tomlin, Smokey Robinson, and Ringo Starr. He wouldn’t be jumping and flipping and hitting, but he’d probably be making movies in which other martial artists would be jumping and flipping and hitting. He’d still be telling stories. He’d still be a husband, a father, a grandfather.

“He’d still be my friend.”

Abdul-Jabbar took Lee’s philosophy and used it in his own life and in his craft. The six-time champion used Lee’s mindset of adapting to any situation and remaining calm under pressure to become one of the GOATs in basketball history.

This article first appeared on Ball Exclusives and was syndicated with permission.

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