Abdul-Jabbar was in the thoughts of those at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. "This challenge would just appear to be another chapter in (his life) and his impact on our society," Hall of Fame President John Doleva said.

Abdul-Jabbar played high school basketball at New York City's Power Memorial, when he was Lew Alcindor. Andrew Pisani, alumni president of the now-defunct school, said, "When I found out, our feeling is a matter of deep concern."

Lakers guard Derek Fisher applauded the disclosure: "His spotlight affords him an opportunity to touch a lot of families and people hit with cancer, leukemia in particular."

Former Bucks teammate Jon McGlocklin said: "It just shows how incendiary cancer is. Here is a man who took care of his body and played into his 40s, did everything right. It's an awakening for everybody."

Chronic myeloid leukemia affects about 5,050 Americans a year, the American Cancer Society says, and prognosis is usually good because of one of the few real breakthroughs in cancer Gleevec, a pill approved in 2001 that has transformed this from a death sentence into a manageable disease. Before Gleevec less than 40% of patients survived. Today about 95% do, said Andrea Greif, spokeswoman for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

"We've taken a disease that 10 years ago had a life expectancy of no more than five years and turned it into a manageable condition," said Brian Druker, Gleevec's inventor.

Abdul-Jabbar would not say what he was taking, but it allows him to maintain his regular lifestyle. "I have to take the time to see my specialist. I have to go on a regular basis to have my blood analyzed, and I have to take my medication."

Abdul-Jabbar plans to do updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kaj33 and on Facebook at http://bit.ly/1nmPTn.

Contributing: Chris Colston, Liz Szabo