NBA champion, 'Survivor' contestant Scot Pollard is feeling great after heart transplant, wife says

NBA champion and “Survivor” contestant Scot Pollard is “awake and feeling great” a day after a heart transplant, his wife said Saturday on social media.

“Scot has a new heart!” Dawn Pollard posted Friday night on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Surgery went well and I’ve been told the heart is big, powerful and is a perfect fit! Now on to the crucial part of recovery."

She posted an update Saturday, writing: “Look who’s awake and is feeling great! Breathing tube came out early this morning and he started cracking jokes and singing, ‘I left my heart in San Fran-Nashville.’ We are all amazed at Scot’s recovery so far!”

Pollard, who turned 49 on Monday, needed a transplant because of damage to his heart from a virus he caught in 2021 that likely triggered a genetic condition he has known about since it killed his father at 54, when Scot was 16. Pollard’s size complicated efforts to find a donor with a heart big enough to fit his 6-foot-11, 260-pound body.