NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar meets 'incredible' Totti

NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a special guest at Roma’s training ground in Trigoria on Friday afternoon, as he met players and staff from the club.

Abdul-Jabbar, 69, is the all-time leading points scorer in NBA history – having won six titles in a 20-year playing career spent with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.

On Friday the American had the chance to meet and chat with Roma captain Francesco Totti, another icon of his sport who is currently in his 25th season at the highest level.

Abdul-Jabbar, whose interest in football was sparked in the 1960s when he met Pele, paid tribute to Totti – recognising from his own experience what it was like to play at the top level for so long.

“I think that any time you have someone who can contribute in a team sport, continually over two decades, that’s an incredible achievement,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “That really deserves to be recognised."

On the two men achieving similar things in different generations, he added: “I don’t think the challenge changes. It doesn’t matter about the era, it’s always difficult to continue like that.

“I think an older player has an advantage in understanding how to win, how to succeed. If he couples that with a rugged training schedule, then that person can stay on top of his game as long as he wants to.

“When you are physically able to do it you can make those sort of choices [of experience] on the pitch, and I think the older athletes have generally mastered that aspect of training and preparation so they are able to do so.”

“I think that any time you have someone who can contribute in a team sport, continually over two decades, that’s an incredible achievement."

- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Francesco Totti

During his time at Trigoria, Abdul-Jabbar was taken for a tour of the facilities – while he also observed sections of training and discussed various topics with coach Luciano Spalletti, sporting director Frederic Massara and other members of the club staff.

“I got a chance to meet Pele back in the 1960s when I was in college, so my association with him has engendered an interest in the sport,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “It’s interesting to see the contrast in styles between here and America.

“In America, the universities really do the lion’s share of developing young players for professional sport, whereas here in Europe the club system is in play, which is a totally different animal. So it’s interesting learning about how they get talent, how they develop talent so it can reach the team that is in the professional league.”

Abdul-Jabbar was impressed by the facilities he saw.

“I think you can see the progress that has been made in the knowledge of how to train players, which has affected how clubs build their facilities and get their people to train their athletes,” he noted. “It’s an indication that sport is making progress and is always figuring out ways to develop a better product.”

No stranger to vast success during his playing career, Abdul-Jabbar shared some insight on how he turned around difficult moments during his career – and what it takes to sustain winning runs at the very highest level of professional sport.

“You can turn difficult situations into winning when you have players that are dedicated and don’t mind paying the price to get better,” he said. “Teams have to continually improve to maintain dominance, to maintain success.

"They won’t stay dominant unless those responsible for attracting talent are doing a good job, just as those on the team have to work hard on the performances.

“Any time you have success, a target is on your back. And if you have continued success that targets get bigger and more people are trying to score against you.

"So you have to be prepared to stay on top and that requires a lot of sacrifices.”

See more photos from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's visit here.