Wilt Chamberlain Profile, Career Highs, Highlights and Pictures

Los Angeles Lakers players: Wilt Chamberlain profile, career highs, highlights and pictures

Basic Data:

Wilt Chamberlain Profile Position: Center
Nickname: "The Big Dipper", "Wilt The Stilt", "Goliat", "Mr.100"
Born: August 8, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died: October 12, 1999 (aged 63) Bel-Air, California
Height: 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)
Weight: 275 lb (125 kg)
High School: Overbrook in Philadelphia, PA
College: University of Kansas
Career: Drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959 (third pick overall)... Traded to Philadelphia 76ers, January 15, 1965... Traded to L.A. Lakers, July 9, 1968
NBA Seasons: 14 (1959-60 / 1972-73)
NBA Titles: 2 (1966-67 with Philadelphia 76ers and 1971-72 with L.A. Lakers)

The Laker Player:

Wilt Chamberlain arrived to the Lakers for the 1968-69 season and spent the last 5 years of his career at L.A.

Despite not being the unstoppable force he was in his youth years, when he could score at will (he averaged 50.4 points in 1961-62), Chamberlain was an evolved player that had led the league with 8.6 assists the previous year.

He averaged 17.7 points for the Lakers, almost half of his 30.1 career average (second-best only to Michael Jordan), but he did it with an incredible effectiveness from the field with a .605 over the 5 season and an astronomic .727 field goal percentage at 36 years old in 1972-73 (NBA record for players with more than 20 games in a season). He still dominated the boards with 19.2 rebounds (led the NBA in 1969, '71, '72 and '73) and had become a team player that could add 4.3 assists. Chamberlain also returned to an All-NBA team in 1972 and was selected for the only 2 All-defensive First Teams of his career.

Lakers Career Stats	Season	Playoffs
Points	17.7	15.8
Rebounds	19.2	22.3
Assists	4.3	3.6
FG%	.605	.531

The Unstoppable Team:

Ironically enough, the most dominant basketball player of all times averaged "just" 14.8 points, the second lowest of his career, to be part of the most dominant basketball team ever: the 1971-72 Lakers.

The team that included Jerry West , Gail Goodrich, Jim McMillan and Happy Hairston among others, won 33 games in a row, a record still unbroken more than 35 years later, and had a then unprecedented 69-13 record. To the moment only the 1996 Bulls could do better.

The Lakers couldn't be stopped in the Playoffs either and won the NBA Championship with a 12-3 record, including the 4-1 Finals against the Knicks. Wilt Chamberlain was selected the Finals MVP and the Lakers ended an incredible bad-streak of 8 finals lost.

When he retired from the NBA in 1973, he was league top scorer with 31,419 points (later surpassed by Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan and Malone) and was the owner of uncountable records. Many of them are still current, including most of his rebound records and of course his legendary 100 points and 55 rebounds in single games. He scored 50 points or more on 118 separate occasions, including 60 or more an out-of-this-world 32 times.

Chamberlain never "fouled out" in 1045 regular season games. His legacy also includes being responsible for several rule changes and one of the greatest NBA rivalries of all time: Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell.

Career Stats	Season	Playoffs
Points	30.1	22.5
Rebounds	22.9	24.5
Assists	4.4	4.2
FG%	.540	.522

NBA Titles:
1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers
1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers

Teams: Philadelphia Warriors (1959-60 / 1961-62), San Francisco Warriors (1962-63 / 1964-65), Philadelphia 76ers (1964-65 / 1967-68) , Los Angeles Lakers (1968-69 / 1972-73)

Holds almost all the Lakers records for rebounds in the season and in the Playoffs.

NBA Finals MVP (1972)

NBA Season MVP (1959-60, 1965-66, 1966-67 and 1967-68)

NBA All-Star MVP (1959-60)

Rookie Of The Year (1959-60)

Thirteen-time NBA All-Star (1959-60 to 1968-69 and 1970-71 to 1972-73)

All-NBA 1st Team 7 times (1959-60,1960-61, 1961-62, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1967-68)

All-NBA 2nd Team 3 times (1962-63, 1964-65, 1971-72)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team twice (1971-72, 1972-73)

Inducted into Hall of Fame as Player in 1978

NBA scoring leader 7 times (1959-60 to 1965-66)

NBA rebounding leader 11 times (NBA best - 1959-60 to 1962-63, 1965-66 to 1968-69, 1970-71 to 1972-73)

NBA assists leader (1967-68)

One of 35 Greatest Players in NBA History (1980).

One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).

Holds almost all the Lakers records for rebounds in the season and in the Playoffs.

Another Wilt Chamberlain profile...

Wilt Chamberlain Career Stats

Season	Age	Tm	G	MP	FTA	PTS	TRB	AST	FG%
1959-60	23	PHW	72	46.4	13.8	37.6	27.0	2.3	.461
1960-61	24	PHW	79	47.8	13.3	38.4	27.2	1.9	.509
1961-62	25	PHW	80	48.5	17.0	50.4	25.7	2.4	.506
1962-63	26	SFW	80	47.6	13.9	44.8	24.3	3.4	.528
1963-64	27	SFW	80	46.1	12.7	36.9	22.3	5.0	.524
1964-65	28	SFW	38	45.9	13.2	38.9	23.5	3.1	.499
		PHI	35	44.5	10.9	30.1	22.3	3.8	.528
		TOT	73	45.2	12.1	34.7	22.9	3.4	.510
1965-66	29	PHI	79	47.3	12.4	33.5	24.6	5.2	.540
1966-67	30	PHI	81	45.5	10.8	24.1	24.2	7.8	.683
1967-68	31	PHI	82	46.8	11.4	24.3	23.8	8.6	.595
1968-69	32	LAL	81	45.3	10.6	20.5	21.1	4.5	.583
1969-70	33	LAL	12	42.1	13.1	27.3	18.4	4.1	.568
1970-71	34	LAL	82	44.3	8.2	20.7	18.2	4.3	.545
1971-72	35	LAL	82	42.3	6.4	14.8	19.2	4.0	.649
1972-73	36	LAL	82	43.2	5.5	13.2	18.6	4.5	.727

14 Seasons			1045	45.8	11.4	30.1	22.9	4.4	.540

Wilt Chamberlain Career Highlights

* 100 points *
Wilt Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to have scored 100 points in a game. Some say it was another time with other kind of player and style of game, but have you heard of another player from those days that got closer to that? The second in the list is Kobe Bryant with 81, 19 points below Chamberlain's mark, and that was in 2006.

* 55 rebounds *
This stat is not so famous as his 100 points but it is equally amazing.

* Basketball Hall of Fame *
Wilt Chamberlain was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.

* 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds*
That was Chamberlain's averages in 1961-62, his third NBA year. These days 30 points or 13 rebounds are enough to lead the NBA.

* A complete Player *
Wilt Chamberlain was a scoring machine and the owner of the boards but that wasn't enough to win a championship. In 1966-67, Sixers Coach Alex Hannum asked him to pass the ball more and to play more aggressive defense. The versatile Chamberlain didn't won the scoring title for the first time in his career, averaging 24.1 points(from 33.5 the previous season), but he recorded the league's highest shooting percentage (.683), had the most rebounds (24.2 rpg), was third in assists (7.8 apg) and won his 3rd season MVP. The next year he even led the league in assists with 8.6 per game, becoming the only player in NBA history to have led the league in the almost incompatible combination of categories of points, rebounds and assists.

Wilt Chamberlain Pictures

We have a couple of Wilt Chamberlain pictures in this gallery.

More...

Wilt Chamberlain Store: with West jerseys and other merchandise
: full list of jerseys at buyingjerseys.com
There's another Wilt Chamberlain Profile at The Basketball World.com and still another Wilt Chamberlain Profile at NBA Universe.
Wilt Chamberlain vs. Michael Jordan
Wilt Chamberlain with the Lakers