Apart from his love for basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all 7 foot and 2 inches of the leading scorer in NBA history, is also a huge fan of the greatest detective of all time. This led the NBA legend to stitch a story set in the universe of Sherlock Holmes although it is one that is necessarily about the British super-sleuth.
The Los Angeles Lakers veteran is writing a book with screenwriter Anna Waterhouse about Sherlock's older brother Mycroft, who author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned multiple times in the original novels. Jabbar imagined Mycroft as someone who works for the British Secretary of State for War.
"We did his backstory. We let people know what it was all about before Sherlock became the world's primary consulting detective," Abdul-Jabbar, who also penned children's books and nonfiction tomes, told FOX Business Network.
Doyle hasn't mentioned Mycroft's past in detail in his books but he did write a part where Sherlock told Watson (via The Greek Interpreter) that Mycroft has the deduction power "in a larger degree" than him. However, Sherlock describes that he is "incapable" of putting this to use. This is where Abdul-Jabbar fills in.
In the book, Sherlock said that his brother had the makings of "the greatest criminal agent that ever lived." Doyle writes, "But he has no ambition and no energy. He would not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right."
In an interview with The Guardian, the basketballer stated that the "posthumous memoir" of the character penned by Michael Hodel and Sean Wright made him realize that "more could be done with this older, smarter character."
The aforementioned publication states that Abdul-Jabbar was first introduced to Sherlock Holmes when he watched Basil Rathbone films. When asked by Daily Beast why he chose to write about Mycroft instead of Sherlock, "His deductive powers are at least in equal in Sherlock. Sometimes he is the British government. And this is at a time when the British government is a world superpower," he replied.
He further explained that the talents he had would be "a very interesting possibility." "What he could do and how he would affect Sherlock and how he would affect the ruling of the British Empire. It left a huge area there to explore and define."
In the book, which is titled "Mycroft Holmes," readers will see what he has been up to before he founded the Diogenes Club and became the "reclusive genius" behind the British government. "Mycroft Holmes" will serve as the basketball hall of fame. While Abdul-Jabbar isn't sure if there will be a sequel, he is looking forward to the possibility.