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In his 20-year career, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was constantly at battle on the court, scoring the most points overall in NBA history, playing on six championship teams. But now, two decades after he retired from basketball, Jabbar is fighting another battle -- this time against cancer.

Late last year, the 62-year-old entrepreneur, author, actor and coach was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML.

"I had a very good friend who died just three or four years ago who died from a different type of leukemia. But when that happened it was devastating. I thought I had the same thing in that I had months or weeks to live," said Jabbar during an appearance on CNN's American Morning.

More than 20,000 people in the United States have the potentially life-threatening disease, and 5,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.

"When you first get diagnosed with CML you may present with symptoms like fatigue or night sweats or somebody may find that your white count is very high, or you may have a fever. And of course there is the scare that you have to go through that you have leukemia," said Dr. Jasmine Zaine of New York University's Langone Medical Center.

The good news is CML is treatable, with a growing number of people living well with the disease. Jabbar says because of the treatment he is getting, doctors have delivered a promising prognosis. He's being treated with medication that targets that abnormal protein his doctors say causes the cancer. The only cure for it used to be a bone marrow transplant.

The hall of famer -- a normally private person -- is now speaking out to raise awareness about diagnosis and treatment. He works as a paid spokesperson for Novartis, the company that makes the drug he takes to control his disease.

"I think someone in my position who gets public attention can do a lot of good because a lot of people are faced with this condition and they think it is a death sentence," Jabbar said.

Jabbar says that with proper cancer treatment and management he has a great chance of living out his life without having to make any major changes to his lifestyle.