Cream Abdul Jabbar

About

Cream Abdul Jabbar is a nickname given to Indiana State University basketball player Robbie Avila. The nickname is inspired by Avila being white (hence "cream") and wearing goggles reminiscent of those former NBA star Kareem Abdul Jabbar used to wear on the court. Avila also plays center, which was Jabbar's position. After being coined on Twitter / X in late February 2024, many users praised the nickname, causing it to trend on the website and become referenced in memes and jokes.

Origin

On February 28th, 2024, Indiana State University center Robbie Avila scored a career-high 35 points in a win over the University of Evansville.^[1] On February 29th, Twitter user @KySportsRadio^[2] posted a video of Avila's highlights, writing "Cream Abdul Jabbar killing it last night with 35 points" (shown below). The tweet gained over 1,900 retweets and 19,000 likes in four hours.

Spread

As the tweet spread, many online praised the nickname bestowed on Avila by Twitter user @KySportsRadio. Later on February 29th, 2024, Twitter user @MisterPendley^[3] called it a "god-tier nickname," gaining over 40 retweets and 240 likes in one hour (shown below, left).

The same day, Twitter user @MissSassbox^[4] then called it "easily the most upsetting, shamefully hilarious thing I will laugh at for the remainder of the week," gaining over 15 retweets and 90 likes in one hour (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References