LSU Basketball will retire Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s jersey next week. The ex-Tiger’s star will see his jersey going up in the rafters in the home game’s halftime against Texas A&M.
Abdul-Rauf, at the time named Chris Jackson, won back-to-back SEC Player of the Year awards as a member of the Tigers. Furthermore, he was named a First-team All-American for the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.
The Denver Nuggets selected Abdul-Rauf with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft. He played in Denver for six seasons being the 1993 Most Improved Player of the year.
In his last season in the Nuggets’ uniform, the point guard made headlines after he refused to stand for the national anthem because he viewed the U.S. flag as a symbol of oppression.
At first, the NBA suspended Abdul-Rauf for a few games, but then both sides reached to a compromise that he would stand with his head kneeled and his eyes closed.
The LSU guard played also for the Sacramento Kings(1996-98) and the Vancouver Grizzles(2000-01) in the NBA, while he stayed in professional basketball untill 2011.
From 2003-11, the point guard played for multiple teams overseas in Russia, Greece, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Japan. Also, in 1998-1999 season, he played for the Turkish club Fenerbahce without finishing the season.
He is currently taking part in the BIG-3 League as a member of the Three Headed Monsters team.
