Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Towers Over Tiny 'DWTS' Partner Lindsay Arnold

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lindsay Arnold aren't letting their height difference slow them down!The [...]

By Anna Rumer

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lindsay Arnold aren't letting their height difference slow them down!

The Dancing With the Stars pro and NBA legend make up #TeamTallandSmall, with Abdul-Jabbar standing at a towering 7'2″ compared to Arnold's 5'6″, but managed to make it through the first round of eliminations during the all-athlete season's premiere Monday.

Abdul-Jabbar told PEOPLE prior to the premiere that the pair has tried to work around the height difference by choosing routines that don't emphasize their discrepancy, but they also poked fun at their situation during Monday's dance with some well-placed moves showing off the feet between them.

The 71-year-old also told the publication that even though he has "old bones," he has "young feet."

"It started out that I had to get my feet in shape," he said. "I haven't worked out like that ever. Basketball practice, you do it on your feet just like dance practice — it's a little bit different, but you're stretching your feet the same. It took me a couple of days to get used to that, and now it seems to be going very well. Lindsay had my shoes altered a little bit, they stretched them for me. They were a little more broken in, and now I'm doing fine."

Abdul-Jabbar said the rehearsal process has been "very humbling" for him but that he's "making progress."

"It looks so simple and easily done, but when you're trying to coordinate two people, it takes a while for both of them to learn each other's coordinating moves and how to proceed through the sequence of things," he said. "All of the dances [I've seen] throughout my life make it look so thoughtless and easy, and I can see how much work it is to pull it off — wow."

Among the athletes joining Abdul-Jabbar on DWTS are former Olympic ice skaters Tonya Harding, Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu; Olympic luger Chris Mazdzer; Notre Dame's national championship hero Arike Ogunbowale; former pro softball player Jennie Finch Daigle; and Washington Redskins' cornerback Josh Norman.

Retired professional baseball outfielder Johnny Damon and Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson were eliminated from the competition during Monday's premiere. Damon was partnered with Emma Slater, and Anderson was partnered with Artem Chigvintsev.

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC

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