Sports

No surprise Kareem is waiting for his statue

It’s not tricky to figure out why effervescent Magic Johnson and inspirational Chick Hearn were the first Lakers sculptured outside Staples Center. Creative oomph on the floor and in the booth, both were favorites of the fans and owner Jerry Buss.

When you don’t always agree with how the boss and his son conduct business, eventually preferring to work elsewhere, you wind up waiting a discourteous duration, as Jerry West did, for your statue to be unveiled.

As far as I know, there is no cogent rationale for Elgin Baylor not yet being similarly honored, but, again, it’s uncomplicated to grasp Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s brazen brush-off.

In later life, Abdul-Jabbar came to the rude awakening, it tends to matter not nearly as much how many championships, MVPs and points are on your lacquered resume as how you treated those around you when you played.

The ones who count obviously remember Kareem being fundamentally unapproachable, impolite and exhibiting a superiority complex.

He burned his bridges in front of him.

I first eyeballed Abdul-Jabbar when he was a St. Jude’s eighth grader named Lew Alcindor. It was 1961, my senior year. He came to Archbishop Molloy to try out for a scholarship. Despite being around him for the next 30 years, like the preponderance of people, we never really hit it off; though because he knew my wife was such a fan of his, he gave “us” an extensive interview in 1983, and because of that we became very friendly with his parents, Cora and Al.

Toward the end of Abdul-Jabbar’s career I contacted him on behalf of NBC in hopes of getting him as a halftime guest during a Finals game. He already had rejected overtures from the station’s PR staff, so I took a shot to no avail. I tried to impress upon him how an appearance like this could enhance his aloof image and help him down the road, but he couldn’t or didn’t want to see the upside.

By the time Abdul-Jabbar figured out the importance of networking, nobody wanted to give him a real chance to become an NBA head coach. Fifth assistant, sit-behind-the-Lakers-bench is as good as it got. When Andrew Bynum stopped listening to him, he packed the dream away forever and concentrates now on writing black-history books and researching/producing documentaries. Just about everything he’s associated with earns critical acclaim.

Still, more than anything, it seems, Abdul-Jabbar wants the definitive respect for vitally contributing to five Lakers championships and the immortality (perhaps) that a statue represents.

This week the “highly offended” Lord of the Rims took the offensive, venting dissatisfaction on tweets for being slighted 22 years after retirement. Suddenly he can’t encourage enough interviews to ask about it.

Maybe it’s because Abdul-Jabbar, 64, is fighting cancer and recognizes it may soon be his turn not to see tomorrow. Or maybe he’s just sick of being insulted. One way or the other, he indisputably deserves the distinction and has every right to feel disrespected.

But contrary to what Abdul-Jabbar maintained in two separate articles, there indeed has been talk about a pending statue in his likeness.

“Kareem’s representative has been informed that his will be the next statue,” emailed a Lakers’ official. “Because of the potential of a lockout, the timing of this is not known at this time.”

Tweeted Abdul-Jabbar to supports, “Rumor has it I might be getting a statue. Don’t hold your breath.”

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By the way, I counted five times Magic used “mental toughness” in the same spew on ESPN’s preview of Game 1 between Dallas and Oklahoma City. He concluded by saying the Mavericks have gotten mentally tougher since losing in 2006 Finals to Miami. Who, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, the lone leftovers from that runner-up team?

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Correction: Ernie Grunfeld was not Bucks GM, Bob Weinhauer was (but coach George Karl was in charge), when they drafted Nowitzki in ’98 and traded him and Pat Garrity for Tractor Traylor. . . . We have NBA Entertainment and its ad agency, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, to thank for the hilarious talking basketball commercials. . . . James Harden is the best player ever to come out of Amish Country.

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In case you missed it, Celtics coach Doc Rivers admitted the Kendrick Perkins-Jeff Green trade was a mistake because of its mid-February timing and how it hurt the Celtics’ stability, an advantage they had over most of the other contenders who made a lot of offseason changes.

Notice Rivers didn’t confess anything of the kind until he re-signed for five years and $35 million.

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It goes against the basic tenets of the sport that Nowitzki should be able to dominate the game by posting up at the top of the key. I’m starting to believe he’s more accurate from afar as John Block. Twenty-four free-throw attempts on three shots in the paint, with the majority of his moves on 18-foot fade-aways. Clearly, the Thunder needed to — and did — play smarter in Game 2 last night, but referee Joey Crawford was every bit as dominant as Dirk in Game 1.

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This just in from Mike Lione: “Scottie Pippen says Jorge Posada can not play with him anytime he doesn’t want to.”

I still don’t know what to think of Mike Fratello being in awe of Zach Randolph for hustling back on offense.

By my count, the Heat passed the ball once to Joel Anthony in Game 2. The refs immediately called an “illegal offense.”

Tomorrow’s 136th running of the Preakness Stakes may be a crowning event in Maryland, but I’m continuing my boycott until the Claws or The Wire come back to Baltimore.

This just in from column castigator Frank Drucker: “Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized to Eliot Spitzer for giving governors a bad name.”

peter.vecsey@nypost.com