USA – Abdul-Jabbar reveals leukemia battle

LOS ANGELES (NBA) - NBA and Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has revealed that he has leukemia.

The 62-year-old was diagnosed with the disease in December 2008 but waited five months before confiding in Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

He was hired as a special assistant with the Lakers in 2005 to work exclusively with youngster Andrew Bynum.

Abdul-Jabbar recently informed Lakers officials that he had leukemia and then decided to go public.

Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia have an 85% remission rate of "really high quality," a spokesman at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times.

Abdul-Jabbar must take oral medication on a daily basis, have frequent blood tests and see a specialist every other month.

"The fact that you can manage the disease means that you can live your life," Abdul-Jabbar said.

Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA titles, the first with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971.

He was traded to the Lakers in 1974 and played 14 years for the club, winning five NBA crowns.

Born Lew Alcindor in 1947, he boycotted the 1968 Olympics to protest the treatment of blacks.

That same year, he began to study Islam and eventually converted.

In 1971, Alcindor officially changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

On the basketball court, Abdul-Jabbar was famous for his trademark "skyhook."

Current Lakers star Kobe Bryant said: "I stole it from him when I was a kid. I've used it in games a couple times. I might use it the next game, just because."

That next game is against Phoenix on Thursday.

FIBA