Acclaimed NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 76, was rushed to hospital on Friday December after breaking his hip following a fall at a concert in Los Angeles.
During his career, Kareem played for the Milwaukee Bucks for six seasons and closed out his career with 14 years at the Los Angeles Lakers. He retired in 1989 at the age of 42. He was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player a record six times throughout his career, and is a 19-time NBA All-Star—tied for the most ever.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he won six NBA Championships and held the NBA's career scoring record for 39 years before it was broken in 2023 by LeBron James.
"Last night, while attending a concert, Kareem had an accidental fall and broke his hip. He will have surgery today," the former basketball player's longtime business partner, Deborah Morales, told PEOPLE in a statement.
"We are all deeply appreciative of all the support for Kareem, especially from the Los Angeles Fire Department who assisted Kareem on site, and the amazing medical team and doctors at UCLA Hospital who are taking great care of Kareem now," Deborah added.
His health has suffered in recent years, however, and in 2020, in an essay calling for better healthcare for Black Americans, he shared that he had received a diagnosis of prostate cancer and leukemia, and had undergone heart bypass surgery.
"I’ve been fortunate because my celebrity has brought me enough financial security to receive excellent medical attention. No one wants an NBA legend dying on their watch. Imagine the Yelp reviews,” he joked in the essay for WebMD.
“But while I’m grateful for my advantages, I’m acutely aware that many others in the Black community do not have the same options and that it is my responsibility to join with those fighting to change that. Because Black lives are at risk. Serious risk."
“The more insidious and damaging threat to the health, lives, and economic well-being of Black Americans is a health care system that ignores the fact that, though they are most in need of medical services, they actually receive the lowest level,” he continued.
In 2021 he shared that he had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, or AFib, a common form of heart arrhythmia.
"I was leaving a Los Angeles Dodgers game and could not stand up without feeling so lightheaded that I thought I would collapse. I was eventually diagnosed with atrial fibrillation after my symptoms sent me to the hospital," he told NIH Medline Plus.