Basketball Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning revealed Monday that he recently underwent surgery to remove his prostate following a cancer diagnosis.
Mourning spoke about his condition. with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and underwent a procedure to remove his prostate in March. She said tests revealed that the cancer did not spread beyond the prostate capsule and that she is now cancer-free.
In his interview with Wojnarowski, Mourning advocated for at-risk men over the age of 45 to undergo regular PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood tests to screen for cancer.
“What scares me about this disease is that there are so many men who feel great and have this cancer and don’t know it,” Mourning said. “The only way to know is to get a blood test and a PSA test. There are 3.3 million men living in the United States with prostate cancer and many don’t even know it. I was one of those guys.”
By the american cancer society, the risk of prostate cancer increases with age. It is “rare” for men under 40 to get prostate cancer, but the chance of developing the disease “increases rapidly” after age 50. About six in 10 prostate cancer diagnoses are made in men over age 65, according to the ACS.
Men with a family history of prostate cancer, African American men, and Caribbean men of African descent have a higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the ACS. Mourning’s father and grandfather had prostate cancer.
Mourning, 54, told ESPN that he felt “in great shape” before his diagnosis and only learned about his cancer through testing. In 2022, her urologist noted that her PSA levels were “slowly increasing,” prompting an MRI that led to a biopsy that revealed her diagnosis.
“I was shocked,” Mourning said. “I can’t tell you how good my body felt. I was in great shape: running sprints, strong.”
Mourning said he has been recovering and returning to his normal life since the March procedure. Mourning, a veteran of 15 NBA seasons as a player, has worked on the Miami Heat front office since his retirement in 2008.
“Life was good and amazing for me, but if I had ignored the tests and let this go, the cancer would have spread through my body,” Mourning said. “Unfortunately, as men, we don’t like going to the doctor, but this is the only way to know what is going on in the body. Prostate cancer and even colon cancer are silent killers, and many men will not get those diagnoses until they too late.”
Mourning joined the NBA as the second pick of the 1992 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets after the Orlando Magic selected Shaquille O’Neal first overall. He helped lead the Hornets to the franchise’s first playoff appearance and first series victory as a rookie. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind O’Neal.
After three seasons, including two All-Star campaigns in Charlotte, he joined the Miami Heat, where he played 11 seasons over two stints. He won an NBA championship with the Heat playing alongside O’Neal and Dwyane Wade in 2006. Mourning, a seven-time All-Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
