Hall of Fame NBA Center Alonzo Mourning Suffering from Stage 3 Prostate Cancer

Hall of Fame former NBA center Alonzo Mourning is dealing with Stage 3 prostate cancer, reveals Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. He recently had surgery to remove the prostate entirely.

The 6-foot-10 center/power forward, a seven-time All-Star and 2006 champion with the Miami Heat revealed that he hopes to be an advocate and encourage men of a certain age to get checked. Mourning found out in 2022, at the age of 52.

“What scares me about this disease is that there are so many men walking around feeling great and have that cancer in them and they don’t know it,” Mourning told Wojnarowski. “The only way to find out is to get their blood tested and get their PSA checked. There are 3.3 million men living in the U.S. with prostate cancer, and many don’t even know it. I was one of those guys.”

Mourning was part of a particularly starry big-man college draft class in 1992. He was selected with the No. 2 pick out of Georgetown by the Charlotte Hornets, sandwiched between eventual Miami Heat teammate Shaquille O’Neal, then selected by the Orlando Magic out of LSU with the No. 1 pick, and two-time NCAA championship-wining Dukie Christian Laettner, who was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves at No. 3.

“Life was good and amazing for me, but if I had ignored getting checked and let this go, the cancer would’ve spread through my body,” Mourning revealed. “Unfortunately, as men, we don’t like to go to the doctor, but this is the only way to find out what’s going on in your body. Prostate and even colon cancer are silent killers and many men won’t get those [diagnoses] until it’s too late.”

Mourning has dealt with his share of major health scares before. He was diagnosed with a severe kidney disease following his gold medal showing at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He eventually retired in 2003-04 while with the New Jersey Nets as a result of complications stemming from his kidney issues, but after a successful transplant, he un-retired ahead of the 2004-05 season.

“We live in a world where it’s taboo among men to talk about health issues,” Mourning noted. “If I didn’t get routine checkups, I probably wouldn’t be here to talk about this. I want men to be proactive with their health.”

Across a 15-year career with the Hornets, Heat, and Nets, Mourning appeared in 838 regular season contests, averaging 17.1 points on 52.7 percent shooting from the floor, 8.5 rebounds, a whopping 2.8 blocks, and 1.1 assists. In addition to the aforementioned seven All-Star appearances, Mourning was also a two-time All-Defensive Team honoree and the two-time Defensive Player of the Year. He was a formidable post presence during his prime seasons with the Hornets and Heat, and even following his kidney disease diagnosis, he evolved into a formidable force on that side of the floor, even managing to finish eighth in Defensive Player of the Year voting as O’Neal backup on that 2005-06 title-winning Heat squad.