NBA celebrates Mutombo and his legacy on all-Star weekend
The League celebrated a lunch in honor of the legacy of the legendary Dikembe Mutombo, who died in September last year.
San Francisco – hours before playing in the NBA stars game, the voice of Stephen Curry He broke during the Brunch of the NBA legends on Sunday morning when he took the podium to “honor the memory of those we lost this year.” Amid the posthumous honor of those like the such as Attles, Bill Walton and Jerry West, The superstar of the Golden State Warriors gave honor to Dikembe Mutombowho died on September 30, 2024.
“Dikembe was eight times there and four times defensive player of the year,” said Curry. “The characteristic gesture with Dikembe’s finger after blocking a shot was the exact opposite of its selfless and cozy nature outside the court. Dikembe was a true global and humanitarian ambassador. ”
Mutombo played for the Denver Nuggets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Houston Rockets, the Philadelphia 76ers, the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets during an 18 -year race in the NBA that sent him to the Hall of Fame of Basketball Naismith memorial in 2015. The 7-foot 2-inch pivot was selected three times All-NBA and was second in the history of the NBA in blockages with 3,289. T -shirt No. 55 of the former Astro of the University of Georgetown was also removed by the Hawks and the Nuggets. Mutombo was also appointed twice winner of the NBA Award J. Walter Kennedy for the best citizen for excellent service and dedication to the community.
The NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver revealed the Dikembo Mutombo Humanitarian Award from NBA Africa on February 15 in the tenth annual edition of NBA Africa All-Star lunch. The NBA described the prize as “a new annual honor that will recognize a person or an organization that strives to advance health, education or economic opportunity in the Africa continent.” After his retirement of the League in 2009, Mutombo, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was the first global NBA ambassador, designated by the late NBA Commissioner, David Stern.
“(Mutombo) was a constant fund collector,” said Silver. “He used to joke when we traveled with him, (and) he had his card as NBA ambassador – these days when I take out my presentation card, the young people say, ‘What is that piece of paper?’ But when people still had presentation cards, he started with his NBA ambassador card, and then waited until he was walking away and took four more cards of all these other programs for which he was raising funds. I was so committed to it.
“His spirit was contagious. Part of it was simply that he measured 7 feet. We knew when we traveled with him, be it Mumbai – a place where people perhaps did not know much about basketball or dikembe mutombo – I think by their Size, because of their laugh, just because of their presence, they instantly knew that it was someone important and he created those connections, something we talked about so much these days. “
NBA Africa lunch during the All-Star weekend is generally an energy event, with the DJ by clicking Afrobeats, people dressed in colorful African attire and people from all over Africa present. While it was the case this time, there was also a solemn mood of remembrance for Mutombo. In the back of the lunch room there were Mutombo photos in all the teams he played during his career in the NBA.
“It’s hard. Obviously, it’s a legend, someone who has not only done things for basketball in Africa, but for the African people in general,” the NBA Pascal Siakam All-Star, Native of Cameroon, said. ” So much good in the world. An African young player. ”
While NBA fans worldwide love Mutombo, he is more loved in Africa. In 1996, Mutombo paid the travel expenses for the National Basketball team of the Congo towards the Olympic Games in Atlanta and bought their uniforms. In 1997, he established the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, “whose mission is to improve health, education and quality of life for people in Congo.”
Mutombo opened a hospital of 29 million dollars in 2009 near Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, where 7.5 million people live in poverty. More than one million people have already received attention. The Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, appointed in memory of Mutombo’s mother, has treated more than 200,000 people, according to Georgetown University.
Mutombo promoted basketball globally through basketball without borders, including camps in Africa. He also played in the NBA exhibition match in Africa in 2015 and attended the game in 2018. In 2020, the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation began construction of an elementary school in the Congo, and through Mutombo Coffee, obtained beans of African farms of African coffee of participants in their women’s initiative in coffee. Mutombo was also one of the first investors in the African Basketball League.
Silver also said at lunch that the NBA will donate 55 courts in Africa in honor of Mutombo and its shirt number. The first court will be built in his native Kinshasa. NBA Africa has pledged to build 1,000 courts in the continent in the next decade. During lunch, a video in tribute to Mutombo was presented. With the words of tribute to George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Luol Deng, Didier Drogba, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Yao Ming and Steve Smith. There was also a tribute video of Mutombo’s son, Ryan.
“Nelson Mandela once said that Dikembe Mutombo was not only a friend to his people, but all the people …” said Clare Akamazni, executive director of NBA Africa. “I know that all of you here share something in common. Your love for basketball sport and your love for the Africa continent. So, with today’s lunch, we celebrate the best of basketball and the best of Africa through a Man, Dikembo Mutombo.
“Like many of you, I was lucky to interact with Dikembe on a few occasions. And your passion for people, for using sport as a tool to build others and by Africa was simply contagious.”
Silver said: “We miss him tremendously. We think a lot about his wife, Rose, and his children. This award was the minimum we could do.”
