Kareem Abdul-Jabbar In Great Spirits After Breaking Hip In Bad Fall

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is clearly recovering nicely after breaking his hip during a nasty fall last week -- 'cause he's now firing off jokes about the situation, calling himself "Humpty Kareem!"

The NBA legend shared an update on his status on his Substack page on Monday ... revealing he was actually on his way to delivering a speech at The Manhattan Transfer's concert on Friday at Disney Hall in Los Angeles when the spill happened.

"I'd like to say I fell while trying to save a child from plunging over a balcony," he wrote, "but I just tripped."

"Hard for me to accept that a once world-class athlete just stumbled. But age is the great equalizer and humbles us all."

The 76-year-old, though, shared a snap of him in a hospital bed with a huge grin -- appearing to show that his rehab is moving smoothly.

Abdul-Jabbar also thanked all the first responders who cared for him after he went down ... and he vowed to be up and at 'em again shortly.

"All my best to you from my hospital bed," he wrote. "Me and my new hip will be dancing to [The Manhattan Transfer's] tunes again."

"Well," he continued, "gently swaying."