Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Shares Health Update After Breaking Hip

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has an update on his health after having surgery on a broken hip. The NBA legend fell in Los Angeles on Friday evening while attending a show. He was rushed to the hospital after his hip cracked from the fall. Abdul-Jabbar went to Substack to explain what happened. 

"You may have heard that Humpty Kareem had a great fall. It's true," he wrote on his Substack page.  "I was at The Manhattan Transfer's final public concert at Disney Hall, ready to read a letter from Kamala Harris and provide some praise of my own for a group I love and admire. But I fell and was carted off to UCLA Hospital with a broken hip." Abdul-Jabbar went on to say that he'd "like to say I fell while trying to save a child from plunging over a balcony, but I just tripped."

He continued:  "Now, I'm a world-class patient in a bed convalescing from a hip replacement like 450,000 other Americans every year. I'm writing to you because…well because that's what I do. However, after this week, I will be taking a week or so off over the holidays to fully recuperate and spend time with my family. When I return, it will be with a shiny new hip and a lot of shiny thoughts to share." Abdul-Jabbar thanked the Los Angeles Fire Department and the medical team at UCLA Hospital for taking care of him.

Abdul-Jabbar accomplished everything while playing in the NBA. He was selected to the All-Star team 19 times, the All-NBA Team 15 times, the All-NBA Defensive Team 11 times, named NBA MVP six times, named NBA Finals MVP twice and won six NBA Championships. 

In 2021, PopCulture.com spoke to Abdul-Jabbar about his favorite moments while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. "Well, winning back-to-back in '87 and '88, that was very satisfactory, and beating the Celtics, jeez, that was something that the whole city wanted to see happen, and when it finally did, quite a relief," Abdul-Jabbar told PopCulture. "I remember in '85, I heard from players like Tommy Hawkins and Jerry West, they were all just glad that we finally beat the Celtics."