”(The flag) is a symbol of tyranny and oppression. This country has a long history of that. I don’t criticize those who stand, so don’t criticize me for sitting. If I have to give up basketball, I will.” - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

“Being out there on the court while everyone else is standing (for the anthem), that is being disrespectful. If he believes what he believes he should stand forward and deal with the repercussions.” - Michael Jordan

“I’m no politician, but the man has to remember he’s made a lot of money in this country.” All-star Nets forward Jayson Williams

A prominent Colorado radio station sent their employees to a Colorado mosque in turbans, playing the Star Spangled Banner on trumpets.

David Stern and the NBA suspended Abdul-Rauf indefinitely based on a rule (standing at attention for the anthem) that was not enforced by the CBA.

Colorado politicians likened Abdul-Rauf’s actions to “treason.”

“People will characterize me as a racist. I compromised. I will stand and offer my own prayer for those who are suffering.” Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

Part I: Chris Jackson Takes the World by Storm

Before he was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, before he found himself seemingly alone against an entire nation in his convictions, before his basketball career became another what-if, he was Chris Jackson.

He was a basketball prodigy from Gulfport, Mississippi, a skinny kid from a poor, single-parent home who seemed almost incapable of missing a shot. He grew up with Tourette syndrome, although he would not be diagnosed until he was 17. For years, he did not understand why his mind demanded such precision from him, why he had uncontrollable tics, why on the court putting up shots could not end until everything went exactly right.

So he shot, and shot. He wouldn’t let himself leave a gym until he had hit dozens of free throws consecutively, swished. A shot that went in, but touched the rim was considered a miss. At one point, during a high school practice, he reportedly made 283 free throws in a row.

At LSU, Jackson became a national phenomenon. In his freshman season, he scored 965 points, still only trailing record-holder Pete Maravich for the most points ever in a season by an SEC player. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRNXcd2YEWI In an era where it was rare for freshmen to start on quality teams, he put up 30.2 points per game, second in the nation.

He scored 53 points against Florida as a freshman, still one of the most dominant performances by a freshman in college basketball history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_EsvXG16LU Jackson ranked highly among the best pure shotmakers of his generation from a young age.

The next year, he averaged 28 playing alongside a freshman Shaq, then a foul-prone defensive menace who was only third on that team in scoring. It was Abdul-Rauf, and not Shaq who was the go-to scorer. Despite being undersized at roughly 6’0, 165 pounds, he was selected third in the NBA draft that summer by the Denver Nuggets.

Part II: A unique talent, on the verge of greater recognition

Often, when people talk about what-ifs in basketball history, there’s a tendency to exaggerate the past. Abdul-Rauf was not Stephen Curry. He was more undersized, like every player he wasn’t as great of a three point shooter, and he had to change his physique and improve as a playmaker to adjust to the league.

But he had outlier strengths so extreme that his rise to NBA stardom, at one point, was more of a matter of “when” than if.

In his third season, he took a major jump, averaging 19.2 points and 4.2 assists, winning the Most Improved Player award.

He led the eighth seed Denver Nuggets in scoring during the regular season. Then he helped them upset the first seeded SuperSonics with Payton and Kemp, with the Nuggets being the first eighth seed to beat a one seed. In the quarterfinals, he led the Nuggets in scoring again, taking the Malone-Stockton Jazz to seven and falling just short of a conference finals matchup against Kareem’s Rockets.

He steadily improved, and three seasons later, at 26, had his best individual year. He put up 51 on Stockton and the Jazz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT1y3evdJeA

In another game, he put up a ridiculous 30-20-8 statline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gW95__TeWk

For the season, he averaged 19.2 points and 6.8 assists in an era where score-first point guards were rare.

He was both arguably the best shotmaking point guard in the league, and one of the best scoring PGs, while being a much improved playmaker, and was just entering his prime. He had been snubbed of all-star recognition against stacked PG competition in the West (Stockton, Payton, Kidd, Kevin Johnson).

But his ascent to all-star recognition seemed inevitable, and he was already known as one of the league’s best offensive guards. He was the best free throw shooter in the league along with Mark Price, led the league in percentage in 96, and came one make away from setting the single season percentage record in 94.

He was even strongly in contention for a spot on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team.

He had spent his entire life chasing perfection on a basketball court. Now, just as he was finally approaching the heights that seemed destined for him, his career was ripped apart for reasons entirely unrelated to basketball.

Part III: Opposed, and unsupported

As the young scoring guard transformed from looking like a draft bust to one of the best scoring and shooting point guards in the world, he transformed in his personal life as well.

At LSU, Jackson had been introduced to The Autobiography of Malcolm X by his coach, Dale Brown. During his first season in Denver, he began to read the Qur’an, becoming entirely engrossed, and converting in 1991.

In 1993, Chris Jackson became Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. The name change was an expression of a quickly changing personal identity. That identity would go on to clash directly with the league’s apparent values, as well as much of the country’s.

For an entire season, in 95-96, Abdul-Rauf would take his form of protest, either staying in the locker room during the national anthem, or choosing not to stand. Until March 12th, it went largely unnoticed by the general public, and was largely tolerated by those who were aware of it.

But, fans began to pick up on it, and in early March began to call local Denver radio stations to complain about Abdul-Rauf. Local media followed up on it with Abdul-Rauf, and they got their soundbite.

His reasoning was both religious and political. Abdul-Rauf said that the Qur’an forbade nationalistic ritualism, and that he saw the U.S. flag as a symbol of oppression.

“If I have to give up basketball, I will,” he said.

“The flag) is a symbol of tyranny and oppression. This country has a long history of that.” - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

Abdul-Rauf had spent his entire life looking to achieve perfection in basketball. As a child, he had refused to leave the gym until his shot accuracy met entirely unreasonable standards, for anyone. Now, even over a passion that had consumed his entire childhood, it was clear that he valued something more.

With more recent memory of Kaepernick’s extremely similar protest 20 years later, it still represents a deeply contentious issue, one that arguably cost Kaepernick at least the end of a clearly declining career.

But Abdul-Rauf’s was different. Not only was he entering his prime, among the best players at his position, and in serious contention for a spot on the follow up to the 1992 Dream Team, you would have to look far and wide for examples of genuine support within the league. There was one notable exception, from former LSU teammate Shaquille O’Neal, put only in the way that he could.

“It isn’t dishonorable. Mahmoud is Muslim, and you have to respect that. He’s a good person. He’s not a butthole.” - Shaquille O’Neal https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/1996/03/13/Leagues-Governing-Bodies/NBA-SUSPENDS-ABDUL-RAUF-SUSPENDED-OVER-ANTHEM-FLAP/

Abdul-Rauf faced a difficult, and extraordinary predicament. Michael Jordan, Kareem, and many of the league’s current players at that time viscerally disagreed with his stance, a simple one choosing not to embrace the national anthem. The Nuggets’ owner, and at one point an anonymous teammate denounced him. Local radio stations mocked him and his religion, and fans vilified him, bringing giant American flags to games and booing him passionately.

And Abdul-Rauf, himself, was indefinitely suspended without pay. It was immediately speculated that his protest may well have cost himself a spot on the 1996 Olympic Team.

https://time.com/archive/6728777/notebook-mar-25-1996/

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/ostler/article/scott-ostler-why-we-should-stand-up-for-3320857.php

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-20-sp-49119-story.html

It was all backed up by a very thinly supported rule. David Stern had previously legislated that NBA players must stand at aattention for the anthem, but it had not ever actually been ratified by the CBA. For that, Abdul-Rauf was forced to compromise his beliefs, or face never playing again.

After one game, he did end up compromising - he would stand, but hold his head in prayer. Months later, at the end of the season, he was traded on a discount to Sacramento, despite being arguably Denver’s best building block after Dikembe Mutombo was traded.

Sacramento had nothing to offer as a basketball team beyond Mitch Richmond, but Abdul-Rauf’s minutes dwindled over the next two years. His on-ball production was his greatest ability - and on a team that desperately needed another on-ball creator, the ball was taken out of his hands.

In two years, without a clear individual decline, Abdul-Rauf had gone from one of the game’s most promising talents to out of the league entirely. It just so happened that the national anthem controversy lined up perfectly with almost no teams wanting to touch him, and that dramatic decline in perceived value.

A record denied

In six years in Denver, Abdul-Rauf shot 91.6% from the free throw line. He is as good a free throw shooter as anybody who has ever played in the NBA, full stop. Currently, Steph Curry has gotten his record all the way up to 91.2%, and the next leader is Steve Nash at 90.4%.

After Denver, Abdul-Rauf’s free throw percentage did dip over limited reps, now with a significantly greater distraction from home and away fans every time he went to the line. His career percentage was 90.52%. No longer greater than Curry, but even that percentage would have been great enough to be the all-time leader until Curry passed that mark in 2020 and never looked back.

Abdul-Rauf made 1,051 free throws in his career - the NBA’s requirement to make the all-time leaderboard is 1,200. One more full season, with the freedom to run an NBA offense, and he would have gotten there.

Because he didn’t, when people discuss the best free throw shooters ever, they always tend to leave out the guy who might have been the best of anyone.

Another interesting detail is that unlike most NBA statistics and leaderboards, it’s not entirely clear when that 1,200 free throw requirement came into place, and whether it pre-dated Abdul-Rauf’s record-setting exploits.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/about/rate_stat_req.html

I actually asked the founder of basketball reference about it a ways back when he commented on this website, and he said he’d look into it. Unlike other statistics, it’s much more challenging to try to get a sense of when such a specific free throw minimum was put into place. Maybe I’m just not cool, but he never got back to me. Whether that’s a deeper conspiracy (unlikely) or just a little something that’s been lost to time, it adds just a little bit more mystery to the situation.

Either way, just 150 free throws made, and likely hardly any more attempts was the difference between him being seen as perhaps the greatest free throw shooter ever, and not being recognized at all.