Zaid Abdul-Aziz

Zaid Abdul-Aziz
Born	(1946-04-07) April 7, 1946 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Professional basketball player (retired)
Years active	1968–1978
Known for	NBA career with Cincinnati Royals, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Houston Rockets, Buffalo Braves, Boston Celtics; conversion to Islam

Zaid Abdul-Aziz (originally named Donald A. Smith; born April 7, 1946) is a retired American professional basketball athlete. He was known as Don Smith prior to adopting his current name following his conversion to Islam in 1976.

Abdul-Aziz made a significant impact playing for the Iowa State Cyclones before being chosen fifth overall in the 1968 NBA draft by the Cincinnati Royals. His NBA career spanned ten seasons, during which he played for the Royals, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Houston Rockets, Buffalo Braves, and Boston Celtics. He earned the nickname "The Kangaroo."

Playing career

From 1965 through 1968, Abdul-Aziz competed in college basketball representing the Iowa State Cyclones. In 1968, he was honored as the Big Eight Player of the Year and was selected for the first-team All-Big Eight Conference on three occasions. The 1968 NBA draft saw him picked fifth overall by the Cincinnati Royals, but during his rookie year, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Two years later, in 1970, Abdul-Aziz was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Lucius Allen and Bob Boozer. Although initially contesting this trade, he flourished with Seattle, achieving personal bests with averages of 13.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game in the 1971–72 season before a diagnosis of pericarditis interrupted his play.

It was while with the SuperSonics that Abdul-Aziz embraced Islam. On September 18, 1972, his contract was transferred to the Houston Rockets, where he assumed the role of starting center until the 1974–75 season. During a training camp coinciding with the Muslim observance of Ramadan, Abdul-Aziz experienced symptoms akin to anemia due to fasting and subsequently announced his exit from the team. After encouragement from his father, he returned but had lost his starting position and did not reclaim it. The final three seasons of his NBA tenure were spent as a reserve player before retiring at age 32 in 1978.

Later career

Following his playing days, Abdul-Aziz took on coaching responsibilities for the Saudi Arabia national basketball squad and invested in the Seattle Smashers of the International Volleyball Association during 1978 and 1979.

He pursued studies in chemical dependency at Seattle University, obtained state certification, and subsequently worked as a counselor specializing in drug and alcohol rehabilitation in Seattle.

Regular season

|- | align="left" | 1968–69 | align="left" | Cincinnati | 20 || – || 5.4 || .419 || – || .286 || 1.6 || .2 || – || – || 1.9 |- | align="left" | 1968–69 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 29 || – || 28.9 || .363 || – || .642 || 13.0 || 1.1 || – || – || 11.0 |- | align="left" | 1969–70 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 80 || – || 20.5 || .434 || – || .643 || 7.5 || .8 || – || – || 7.4 |- | align="left" | 1970–71 | align="left" | Seattle | 61 || – || 20.9 || .441 || – || .739 || 7.7 || .7 || – || – || 10.9 |- | align="left" | 1971–72 | align="left" | Seattle | 58 || – || 30.7 || .429 || – || .720 || 11.3 || 2.1 || – || – || 13.8 |- | align="left" | 1972–73 | align="left" | Houston | 48 || – || 18.8 || .397 || – || .735 || 6.3 || 1.1 || – || – || 8.7 |- | align="left" | 1973–74 | align="left" | Houston | 79 || – || 31.1 || .459 || – || .804|| 11.7|| 2.1|| 1.0|| 1.3||10.9 |- | align="left" | 1974–75 | align="left" | Houston |65|| –||22.3|| .437||–|| .783||7.5||1.3||.6||1.1||9.7 |- | align="left" | 1975–76 | align="left" | Seattle |27||–||8.3|| .467||–|| .552||2.8||.6||.3||.6||3.2 |- | align="left" | 1976–77 | align="left" | Buffalo |22||–||8.9|| .338||–|| .767||4.1||.3||.1||.4||3.8 |- | align="left" | 1977–78 | align="left" | Boston |2||–||12.0|| .231||–|| .667||7.5||1.5||.5||.5||4.0 |- | align="left" | 1977–78 | align="left" | Houston |14||–||9.6|| .426||–|| .750||2.5||.5||.1||.1||3.9 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career |505||–||21.8|| .428||–|| .728||8.0||1.2||.6||1.0||9.0 }

Playoff Performance

|- | align="left" | 1970 | align="left" | Milwaukee |'7'||||11.7||||'.579'||||'.800'||||3.7||||'.6'||||||||4.3 |- |'1975 NBA Playoffs'||||1974-75 Houston Rockets season||||6||||11.3||||'.387'||||'.400'||||2.8||||0.5||||||||4.3 |- |'1976 NBA Playoffs'||||1975-76 Seattle SuperSonics season||||5||||12||||700||||'.727'||||4,2||||0,4|||||||7,2 |- class=sortbottom |'Career' colspan=2|||18|||11,7|||529|||500|||36|||05|||05|||51| }}

Personal Background

By 2011, Abdul-Aziz was residing in the Northgate area of Seattle, living with his wife, who was born in Morocco. He is a father to five children from two different marriages. His son, Yusef Smith, competed in college basketball for the Seattle Pacific Falcons and later played professionally in Brazil.

Originally brought up in the Catholic Church, Abdul-Aziz attributes his spiritual transformation to an incident during a Milwaukee Bucks practice when teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar inquired about the gold cross he wore. This prompted him to explore various major faiths, culminating in his conversion to Islam the following year.

In 2006, he authored a memoir titled Darkness to Sunlight, which chronicles his basketball experiences, personal struggles, and religious journey.

External links

• Career statistics