Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explains his guest star appearance on The Bachelorette

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has always been among the all-time greats of basketball — the all-time leading scorer in NBA history, all-time deadliest basketball move with the sky hook, and one of the most decorated Hall of Fame players the game has seen.

But is he also one of the all-time greatest hypocrites after choosing to guest star on The Bachelorette after publicly bashing the show in an article for The Hollywood Reporter?

The 7-foot-2 big man explained his reasoning for appearing on the show after criticizing the shallowness of it and a “lack of intellectual and appearance diversity” on the famed television show.

“Rachel (Lindsay) distinguished herself as intelligent, athletic, playful, witty and emotionally mature,” Abdul–Jabbar wrote in a piece for The Hollywood Reporter. “She also happened to be black.”

“After my article appeared — and while [Nick] Viall’s Bachelor season was being broadcast with Rachel still in the mix — the producers of The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise called me up to tell me that the upcoming Bachelorette would feature a black woman. There were three black women among the remaining contestants, and though the producers wouldn’t reveal whom it would be, clearly Rachel had been a standout. They then asked me if I would like to come on the show and run the men through some basketball drills that would reveal some of their character traits to Rachel. As a fan of the shows, I naturally agreed.”

"I found it very interesting that he dunked on me today." – Rachel to Kareem. 🤔@TheRachLindsay @kaj33 #TheBachelorette pic.twitter.com/5RqqgSSg1p

— The Bachelorette (@BacheloretteABC) May 30, 2017

Among with an all-time great talent and work ethic, the Los Angeles Lakers icon seems to have paired a great sense of the bigger picture and making the most of the right to change his mind.