Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Smashing Pumpkins pitchman? Watch the video here

As his trip to Bonnaroo this year proved, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar loves him some alternative music. In fact, he’s so excited about the forthcoming Smashing Pumpkins album Oceania that he grabbed enough air to dunk a pumpkin.

In what must be one of the most unusual album promos of all time, Abdul-Jabbar palms a gourd before slamming it through a basketball hoop and letting it smash on the ground. (Get it?)

He then reminds the world that Billy Corgan’s band has a new album coming out soon. Check out the clip here:

Oceania is being described as “an album within an album,” because it makes up part of Corgan’s Teargarden By Kaleidyscope project (which has so far seen him release a total of 10 free new Smashing Pumpkins tracks that will eventually make up a 44-song collection). In other Pumpkins video news, the clip accompanying Teargarden track “Owata” is scheduled to premiere tonight.

Corgan has never hid his sports fandom. As a kid growing up in Chicago, he was an elite baseball player, and he has often gone to the mat for his hometown Cubs (he has sung “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at Wrigley Field on multiple occasions), Blackhawks and Bulls. He also has a deep love for professional wrestling, having been involved in several pro wrestling story lines and lent his music to a handful of events; in fact, the video for “Owata” stars a trio of pro wrestlers.

So it’s no wonder that he coaxed Kareem into dunking a pumpkin to plug the new album, but it’s a little bit odd that he used a guy best known as a member of the Lakers for the spot. Was Horace Grant not available?

Read more at EW.com:
On the Books May 11: Billy Corgan and Jaycee Dugard writing memoirs, Donald Trump comic book in the works, and more
Billy Corgan slams Pavement, calls them ‘the death of the alternative dream’
Billy Corgan justifies his continuing Pumpkinhood