One of the most intriguing stories in basketball history belongs to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Don’t believe me? Think again. From his rail-thin physique to his 1991 conversion to Islam, in a traditional sports world, the man originally born Chris Jackson lived a spiritual life far removed from the traditional sports scene. Oh, and he did so while suffering the symptoms of Tourette’s.

“If I didn’t have Tourette’s, I would probably go crazy,” Abdul-Rauf told the Sporting News back in 1994.

The disease, which affects over 100,000 Americans, is characterized by a series of uncontrollable tics and twitches, and though it may have distinguished Abdul-Rauf from the rest of his peers off the court it certainly didn’t put him at any disadvantage on it.

In fact, far from it.

Chris Jackson’s basketball story begins at Louisiana State University. It was here where the Gulfport, Mississippi-born sniper erupted for 55 points as an NCAA freshman. Over the course of his first season in Baton Rouge, Jackson would go on to average a record 30.2 points per game.

In his sophomore campaign, alongside LSU beta dog Shaquille O’Neal, Jackson was named college Player of the Year. In other words, coming out of university, the frail looking kid who bobbed his head while carrying the rock up the court was pretty good at putting points on the board and the Denver Nuggets laid claim to his services with the third pick in the 1990 NBA Draft.

When Jackson converted to Islam in 1991 he took on the name Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. It wasn’t long after that when the combo guard started putting up numbers just shy of 20 points per game for four seasons with Denver.

But what set Abdul-Rauf apart from the rest of the league in terms of his offense wasn’t just his ability to heat up from behind the arc - as seen in a 51-point night against the Utah Jazz in 1995 - it was his penchant for nailing free throws with brain surgeon-like accuracy.

In 1993-94, Abudl-Rauf literally came up one made free-throw short of setting the NBA record for free throw percentage in a season. Instead he finished 0.2% back of the 95.8% record set by Calvin Murphy in the 1980-81 season. Upon his retirement from the NBA, Abdul-Rauf had a career percentage of 90.5%.

After six years with the Denver Nuggets, Abdul-Rauf was traded to the Sacramento Kings where he played for two years in a decreasing role. From there Abdul-Rauf would play all over the globe with pit stops in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vancouver and everywhere in between.

These days Abdul-Rauf is known less for his ability to fill the net and more for the controversy he created opting not to stand for the national anthem in 1996. A compromise between the league and Abdul-Rauf resulted in him agreeing to stand for the national anthem but reciting a Muslim prayer while his teammates acknowledged the flag.

Over the course of his career it became clear that Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was far more than just a basketball player and, as a result, one of the most intriguing personalities to find his way into the NBA. The fact that he combined an untraditional approach to the game with a life-altering disease and still managed to be one of the best in the league at his position simply makes the story even more impressive.

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