Abdul-jabbar pokes fun at 'great fall'
LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- NBA legend Kareem Abdul-jabbar says he's recovering from hip replacement surgery after falling at a concert, but his Substack account of the incident showed his sense of humor is intact.
"Humpty Kareem had a great fall," Abdul-jabbar quipped in the first sentence of his Substack post on Monday, Dec. 18, that described his fall at a Manhattan Transfer concert in Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 15.
"I'd like to say I fell while trying to save a child from plunging over a balcony, but I just tripped," the sixtime NBA champion wrote. "Hard for me to accept that a once world-class athlete just stumbled. But age is the great equalizer and humbles us all.
"Now, I'm a world-class patient in a bed convalescing from a hip replacement like 450,000 other Americans every year."
The 76-year-old said he was scheduled to speak at the concert, which was the vocal quartet's final performance in a decades-long career.
"But I fell and was carted off to UCLA Hospital with a broken hip," he said.
Deborah Morales, Abdul-jabbar's business partner and spokesperson, had issued a statement on Saturday saying he had suffered a broken hip and would undergo surgery.
She told CNN on Sunday that he was "recovering just fine" and on Monday Abdul-jabbar posted on Substack, where he regularly writes about sports, politics and culture.
"I will be taking a week or so off over the holidays to fully recuperate and spend time with my family," Abdul-jabbar wrote. "When I return, it will be with a shiny new hip and a lot of shiny thoughts to share." The iconic 7-foot-2 (2.18m) superstar center made his NBA debut with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969 and in 1971 led the Bucks to their first NBA crown. Abdul-jabbar was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975 and together with playmaker Magic Johnson combined for a "Showtime" era to bring the Lakers five titles in the 1980s before retiring in 1989.