The Lakers are to unveil a statue featuring Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbarat some point during the 2012-13 season, The Times has learned.

A firm date for introducing the statue outside Staples Center hasn’t been finalized.

Abdul-Jabbar remains the NBA’s all-time leading scorer (38,387 points). He won five of his six NBA titles and three of his six league MVPs with the Lakers. His high scoring rate and mastery of his famed skyhook established him, in the opinion of many, as the best center of all time.

The Lakers have maintained there’s no set criteria on determining the order of statue inductions, and the other statues associated with the team also have extensive resumes behind them.

Johnson brought Showtime to the Lakers along with five NBA championships, until recently had an ownership stake and played a part in Staples Center getting built in 1999.

In an interview with The Times two years ago, Lakers executive vice president Jeanie Buss indicated that honoring Abdul-Jabbar next with a statue would be a “natural fit.”

via Mark Medina of Los Angeles Times