Former NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutombo has died after a bout with brain cancer, the league announced on Monday, September 30. The defensive standout was 58 years old. The popular center played for 18 years in the league for several teams, most notably the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks.
“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a written statement. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot-blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”
Mutombo, born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was also the league’s first global ambassador.
“There was nobody more qualified than Dikembe to serve as the NBA’s first Global Ambassador,” Silver said. “He was a humanitarian at his core. He loved what the game of basketball could do to make a positive impact on communities, especially in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and across the continent of Africa.”
The center, who was known for his fierce shot-blocking abilities and the waving of his long index finger toward opponents when he swatted their shots, was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago. He pursued treatment in Atlanta.
He played his collegiate career at Georgetown University, which also birthed basketball stars like Patrick Ew
ing, Alonzo Mourning, and Allen Iverson. Mutombo, Ewing, and Mourning, three of the best centers to play in the NBA in the 1990s, were tutored by the late John Thompson, the university’s revered longtime head coach.Mutombo is one of only three players to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year four times. Minnesota Timberwolves Rudy Gobert, who just won his fourth one this past season, and fellow NBA Hall of Famer Ben Wallace are the other two.
The 7-foot-2 center retired after the 2008-09 season. Mutombo was selected to the NBA All-Star Game eight times and was a three-time All-NBA pick. He averaged 9.8 points and pulled down 10.3 rebounds per game. He made the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
The African native spoke nine languages and founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997. He spent his remaining days involved in charitable and humanitarian causes.
RELATED CONTENT: ‘Athletes For Harris’: Magic Johnson, Candace Parker, Billie Jean King Among Sports Stars Campaigning For Kamala Harris