He is one of the best defenders in NBA history. His outstretched, threatening index finger after one of his countless blocks becomes an iconic gesture. His true legacy, however, remains his tireless humanitarian work. Dikembe Mutombo has now died at the age of 58. He was unique. One of the unmistakable stars of his era. His deep, booming voice could always be heard from far away, his laugh could penetrate time and space. Wherever Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo appeared, he touched those around him thanks to his unmistakable aura. Now one of the best defensive players of all time has died of a brain tumor at the age of just 58 after a serious illness. As a four-time Defender of the Year, Mutombo made basketball history. He was the first NBA player to achieve this feat. His iconic wagging index finger became his trademark and made defensive work sexy. He played in the league for 18 years, reached the NBA Finals with the Philadelphia 76ers and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. But all of that pales in comparison to his humanitarian work over the past three decades and the huge influence he has had outside of sport. “My heart aches,” Magic Johnson wrote on “His work continues, here and in Africa. He was one of the global ambassadors of the NBA and the United Nations and rightly won many awards for his humanitarian work. I will truly miss his smile, his voice and his soul.” NBA All-Star instead of DoctorWhen Dikembe Mutombo came to the USA in 1987 thanks to a scholarship to study at Georgetown University in Washington, he had no intention of earning money through sports. Although he had played basketball, football and martial arts in his homeland (then known as Zaire), his goal, like his older cousin, was to become a doctor. Legendary Hoyas coach John Thompson recruited him for the basketball team anyway, and the rest, as they say, was history. After Mutombo, who now spoke nine languages and completed internships at the US Congress and the World Bank during semester breaks, in After graduating in linguistics and diplomacy, he moved to the NBA at the age of 25. The Denver Nuggets drafted him fourth overall in 1991. Even as a rookie, he was more than ready for the best basketball league in the world, achieved a double-double with an average of 3.0 blocks and made it straight to the All-Star team. Thanks to Mutombo, the Nuggets became the weakest defensive team in the world League will soon become one of the best. In the 1994 playoffs, they caused the biggest surprise success in history when, as number eight in the seed list, they defeated the highly favored, top-placed Seattle Supersonics 3-2. The video of Mutombo lying on his back, triumphantly holding the ball with both hands, is still playing as a highlight on a continuous loop on the NBA channels. Insurmountable Mount Mutombo The 2.18 meter giant was made into the All-Star team eight times and into space six times -Defensive Team and selected to the All-NBA Team three times. He led the league in blocks three years in a row and rebounds twice, and finished his career with the second-most blocked shots of all time, behind Nigerian-born Hakeem Olajuwon. Because Denver didn’t want to pay him adequately, Mutombo moved to the Atlanta Hawks in 1996, where he won three more “Defensive Player of the Year” trophies in 1997, 1998 and 2001. At that point, no one had ever won four defense titles. To this day, Mutombo remains one of only three professionals (Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert are the others) to achieve this feat. After initially shaking his head vehemently at successful defensive moves, the feared, physical center soon developed his own patented, wiggling finger pointing towards the opponent whenever he blocked another throw. “Not in my house” became the trademark of the soon-to-be advertising and pop icon “Mount Mutombo”. It became almost impossible to finish successfully against him at ringside. In 1997, Michael Jordan dunked in the giant’s face after he had reminded him at All-Star Weekend that he had never achieved that before – and celebrated the rare highlight by proudly waving the “Mutombo finger”. With the Philadelphia 76ers, Mutombo failed in the 2001 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. After that, he remained a difference player at the back end and on the boards well into old age in the jersey of the New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. He ended his active career in 2009. Only four players have ever completed more than 1,000 games (1,196), more than 3,000 blocks (3,289) and more than 10,000 rebounds (12,359): Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, and Mutombo. In both Denver and Atlanta, his jersey number 55 was forever dragged under the ceiling and will never be awarded again. Tireless humanitarian commitment His dismissive, edgy manner on the hardwood was polar opposite to his personality off the floor. The man always had a smile on his lips and took time for everyone around him. He always cared about making a positive difference. He was the perfect ambassador for his sport, tirelessly using his fame, his contacts and his charisma to help others. In 1997 he founded the “Dikembe Mutombo Foundation” to create better living conditions for the population in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Even during his active years, the philanthropist was constantly committed to helping the disadvantaged. Mutombo never stopped sensitizing and mobilizing contemporaries for his projects. With more than 15 million US dollars out of his own pocket, he built the “Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital” in his hometown of Kinshasa, named after his mother. In 2020, the Mutombo Foundation built the “Samuel Mutombo Institute of Science & Entrepreneurship”, a modern primary school in the south of the country named after his father. Mutombo was one of the key reasons the league founded the Basketball Africa League in 2019 and has been a fixture in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders initiative year after year. His coffee brand “Mutombo Coffee” became famous for the fact that a large part of the revenue went to female coffee farmers from Africa and Latin America. Long-time NBA veteran Serge Ibaka, also from the Congo and in the employ of FC Bayern Basketball last season, wrote : “You have paved the way for me and many African youngsters, thanks to your legendary basketball career and your charitable work. You are a legend and an African icon who will inspire many generations to come.” “Larger than life itself” Masai Ujiri is Nigerian, president of the Toronto Raptors and, through his own foundation “Giants of Africa”, one of the largest modern developers of the game in Africa. For him, Mutombo was “the biggest giant there was. He had the biggest heart. The guy made us who we are today. Who are we without him? Impossible. It’s impossible to put into words how much Dikembe Mutombo meant.” The news of Mutombo’s death broke into the “Media Days” held by almost all teams on Monday, which officially mark the starting point of the new 2024-25 NBA season. The gentle giant had left his mark everywhere. For superstar Joel Embiid in Philadelphia, Mutombo was and remains “a role model that he tries to emulate”; Karl-Anthony Towns, traded from Minnesota to the New York Knicks over the weekend, said: “We have lost not only a very good basketball player, but one of the best people of all time”; his former New Jersey teammate and current Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd called Mutombo a “great human being, a fearless defender and one of the best teammates I’ve ever had”; “Everyone who knew him admired and loved him,” confirmed NBA champion Pau Gasol; and Chris Paul simply wrote: “A huge heart that will be missed by many. Rest in peace, Dikembe.” “He was a true humanitarian. Larger than life itself,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver finally said in a league statement. statement. “On the floor, he was one of the best shot blockers and defensive players in history. Off the floor, he gave his heart and soul to helping others. He loved the international basketball community like no one else, and they loved him back. We will miss him very much.”
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NBA legend Mutombo dies: “A huge heart that will be missed by many”
