 | |
| Mutombo attending the Annual Charity Day event in September 2016. | |
| No. 55 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Center |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | June 25, 1966 Léopoldville, Republic of Congo |
| Death: | September 30, 2024 (aged 58) Atlanta, Georgia |
| Nationality: |  Congolese
|
| Physical stats | |
| Listed height: | 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) |
| Listed weight: | 260 lb (118 kg) |
| National Basketball Association career | |
| Debut: 1991 for the Denver Nuggets Final game: 2009 for the Houston Rockets | |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Institute Boboto (DR Congo) |
| College: | Georgetown |
| NBA Draft: | 1991 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th |
| Career history | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo (June 25, 1966 - September 30, 2024) was a Congolese-American former professional basketball player. Mutombo played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Mount Mutombo" for his defensive prowess, he is commonly regarded as one of the greatest shot-blockers and defensive players of all time. Outside of basketball, he was known for his humanitarian work.
A 7-foot-2-inch (2.18 m), 260-pound (120 kg) center, Mutombo moved to the United States from the Democratic Republic of the Congo at age 21 to play college basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas. In 1991, the Denver Nuggets chose him with the fourth overall pick of the NBA draft. During his NBA career, he played for six teams, in the NBA Finals for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001 and for the New Jersey Nets in 2003. He received the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, tied with Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert for the most awards. He led the NBA in blocked shots three times, led the league in rebounds twice, and was named to eight All-Star teams. On January 10, 2007, he reached second place on the list of NBA career leaders in blocked shots.
At the conclusion of the 2009 NBA playoffs, Mutombo retired and his number 55 jersey was retired by the Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Denver Nuggets[]
Mutombo was drafted 4th overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1991 NBA Draft. He averaged 16.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, but the Nuggets were unable to make the playoffs in his rookie season. In the 1992-93 season, Mutombo averaged 13.8 points and 13 rebounds per game, but there was no playoff berth for Denver that year either. In the 1993-94 season, he averaged 12 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, just enough to lead the Nuggets to the playoffs. They were seeded 8th and faced the 1 seeded Seattle Supersonics. They pulled off the upset against the Sonics, but fell to the Utah Jazz in 7 games in the second round. In the 1994-95 season, Mutombo averaged 11.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, and led the Nuggets to the playoffs for the second straight year. But they were seeded 8th again and fell to the San Antonio Spurs in the second round. In the 1995-96 season, Mutombo averaged 11 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, but the Nuggets weren't able to get a playoff berth. So Mutombo became a free agent in the offseason.
Atlanta Hawks[]
Mutombo signed a 50 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks as an unrestricted free agent in 1995. He averaged 13.3 points and 11.6 rebounds in his first year with Atlanta. The Hawks made the playoffs in Mutombo's debut with them. They were seeded 4th and faced the 5th seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round. They were able to take down the Pistons, but lost to the Chicago Bulls in the second round. In the 1997-98 season, he averaged 13.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, the Hawks made the playoffs again. This time they were seeded 5th. But they fell to the Charlotte Hornets in the first round. In the 1998-99 season, there was an NBA lockout. It lasted from July 1, 1998 to January 20, 1999. This would mean that instead of 82 games played for each team, only 50 games would be played. Mutombo still averaged 10.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, and the Hawks still made the playoffs. They were seeded 4th again and faced the Detroit Pistons in the first round. They defeated Detroit, but lost to the New York Knicks in the second round. In the 1999-2000 season, Mutombo averaged 11.5 points and 14.1 rebounds per game, but the Hawks were unable to be eligible for the playoffs. In the 2000-01 season, Mutombo averaged 9.5 points and 14.1 rebounds per game in the first half of the season.
Philadelphia 76ers[]
Before the 2001 trade deadline, the Atlanta Hawks traded Mutombo to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Theo Ratliff and Toni Kukoc. Mutombo averaged 11.7 points and 12.4 rebounds per game after the trade deadline. Philadelphia was seeded 1st and faced the 8th seeded Indiana Pacers in the first round. They took down Indiana, then they defeated the Toronto Raptors in the second round, then took down the Milwaukee Bucks in the Conference Finals to reach the NBA Finals. However, Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers were too much for Philadelphia as the Lakers took down the Sixers to win the NBA Championship. In the 2001-02 season, Mutombo averaged 11.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, and the 76ers made the playoffs once again. They were seeded 6th and faced the 3rd seeded Boston Celtics. But the Celtics beat Philadelphia in the first round.
New Jersey Nets[]
On August 6, 2002, the Philadelphia 76ers traded Mutombo to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Keith Van Horn and Todd McColluch. But Mutombo didn't seen too happy in New Jersey, averaging only 5.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and playing in only 24 games due to injury problems. But the Nets somehow were still able to make the NBA Finals. But they fell to the San Antonio Spurs.
New York Knicks[]
On the off-season, Mutombo signed a deal with the New York Knicks, but that year wasn't an improvement. He averaged only 5.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He missed 17 games as well. The Knicks still made the playoffs, but fell to the New Jersey Nets in the first round.
Houston Rockets[]
Prior to the 2004–05 season, the Bulls traded Mutombo to the Houston Rockets for Mike Wilks, Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin. Yao Ming and Mutombo formed one of the NBA's most productive center combos. In his first season with the Rockets, Mutombo averaged 15.2 minutes per game, 4.0 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game and 1.3 blocks per game. The Rockets lost in the first round to the Dallas Mavericks.
On January 10, 2007, in a 102–77 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers, Mutombo recorded five blocked shots and surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in total career blocked shots, trailing only Hakeem Olajuwon.
On March 2, 2007, in a win over the Denver Nuggets at age 40, Mutombo became the oldest player in NBA history to record more than 20 rebounds in a game, with 22. In the 2007–08 season, Mutombo received extensive playing time when Yao went down with a broken bone and averaged double digits in rebounding as a starter. In midst of a 10-game winning streak at the time of Yao's injury, Mutombo stepped in and helped the Rockets win 12 more games to complete a 22-game winning streak, then a team record.
After contemplating retirement and spending the first part of 2008 as an unsigned free agent, on December 31, 2008, Mutombo signed with the Houston Rockets for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. He said that 2009 would be his "farewell tour" and his final season; he was the oldest player in the NBA in 2009. In Game 1 of Houston's first-round playoff series against Portland, Mutombo played for 18 minutes and had nine rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
In the second quarter of Game Two, Mutombo landed awkwardly and had to be carried from the floor. After the game, he said that surgery was needed and that his NBA career was over. It was later confirmed that the quadriceps tendon of his left knee had been ruptured. Mutombo announced his retirement on April 23, 2009, after 18 seasons in the NBA.
Player profile[]
The 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 260 lb (120 kg) Mutombo played center, where he was regarded as one of the top inside defenders of all time. Nicknamed "Mt. Mutombo", his combination of height, power and long arms led to a record-tying four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards, a feat equaled only by Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. Mutombo was among the top three players in Defensive Player of the Year voting for nine consecutive seasons from 1994 to 2002. Staples of Mutombo's defensive prowess were his outstanding shot-blocking and rebounding power. Over his career, he averaged 2.8 blocks and 10.3 rebounds per game. Mutombo blocked 3,289 shots; as of August 2023, he is second all-time in blocked shots behind Hakeem Olajuwon. Mutombo is the 20th-most-prolific rebounder ever. He was also an eight-time All-Star and was elected into three All-NBA and six All-Defensive Teams. Along with his defensive prowess, Mutombo also contributed offensively, averaging at least 10 points per game until he reached age 35.
Mutombo also achieved a certain level of on-court notoriety. After a successful block, he was known for taunting his opponents by waving his index finger, like a parent reproaching a disobedient child. Later in his career, NBA officials responded to the gesture with a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct. To avoid the technical foul, Mutombo took to waving his finger at the crowd or the TV cameras after a block, which is not considered taunting by the rules. Additionally, he was known for injuring several NBA players including Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Charles Oakley, Patrick Ewing, Chauncey Billups, Ray Allen, Yao Ming, LeBron James and Tracy McGrady due to his practice of flailing his elbows. His former teammate Yao Ming made a joke about it: "I need to talk to Coach to have Dikembe held out of practice, because if he hits somebody in practice, it's our teammate. At least in the games, it's 50/50."
The Atlanta Hawks retired Mutombo's number 55 jersey on November 24, 2015, and the Denver Nuggets did the same on October 29, 2016. On September 11, 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He received the Sager Strong Award on June 25, 2018.
Personal life[]
In 1987, Mutombo's 6-foot-10-inch (2.08 m) older brother, Ilo, began playing college basketball in Division II for the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles as a 26-year-old freshman. The brothers played against each other in a 1990 college basketball game at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.
Mutombo met his wife, Rose, during a visit to Kinshasa in 1995. They lived in Atlanta and had three children. They also adopted four children of Rose's deceased brothers. Dikembe and Rose's son, Ryan Mutombo, was ranked as the 16th-best high school center in the United States. In 2021, he committed to attend Georgetown University in D.C. and play for its basketball team. Mutombo played two seasons for Georgetown.
Two of Mutombo's nephews, Harouna Mutombo and Mfiondu Kabengele, have played professional basketball. Harouna Mutombo was the leading scorer for the Western Carolina Catamounts in 2009 and was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year; he later played professional basketball in Serbia. Mfiondu Kabengele played college basketball at Florida State University and was the 2018–19 ACC Sixth Man of the Year. He later was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft and signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers; thereafter, he played in the NBA for the Clippers, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. Another of Mutombo's nephews, Haboubacar Mutombo, also played basketball for Western Carolina. In July 2001, at the federal trial of an Atlanta club owner charged with facilitating prostitution, a former stripper testified that she and two others once performed oral sex on Mutombo at The Gold Club.
Mutombo became a naturalized American citizen.
He witnessed the 2016 Brussels bombings at Brussels Airport on March 22, 2016. Shortly after the bombings, he posted a report on his Facebook page saying that he was safe.
Death[]
On October 15, 2022, Mutombo announced that he was undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. He died in Atlanta from brain cancer surrounded by his family on September 30, 2024, at the age of 58.
Humanitarian work[]
A well-known humanitarian, Mutombo started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve living conditions in his native Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. His work earned him the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001 and 2009. For his feats, Sporting News named him as one of the "Good Guys in Sports" in 1999 and 2000; in 1999 he was selected as one of 20 winners of the President's Service Awards, the nation's highest honor for volunteer service. In 2004, he participated in the Basketball Without Borders NBA program, where NBA stars like Shawn Bradley, Malik Rose and DeSagana Diop toured Africa to spread the word about basketball and to improve the infrastructure. He paid for uniforms and expenses for the Zaire women's basketball team during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. Mutombo was a spokesman for the international relief agency, CARE and was the first youth emissary for the United Nations Development Program.
Mutombo was a longtime supporter of Special Olympics and a member of the Special Olympics International Board of Directors, as well as a Global Ambassador. He was a pioneer of Unified Sports, which brings together people with and without intellectual disabilities. He played in the Unity Cup in South Africa before the 2010 World Cup Quarterfinal, along with South African President Jacob Zuma and Special Olympics athletes from around the world. Mutombo joined his second Unity Cup team in 2012.
Honoring his humanitarianism, Mutombo was invited to President George W. Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address, where the president said "We are proud to call this son of the Congo a citizen of the United States of America". Mutombo said, "My heart was full of joy. I didn't know the President was going to say such great remarks."
On April 13, 2011, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health gave Mutombo the Goodermote Humanitarian Award "for his efforts to reduce polio globally as well as his work improving the health of neglected and underserved populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo." Michael J. Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, said "Mr. Mutombo is a winner in many ways—on the court and as a humanitarian. His work has improved the health of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center is a model for the region. Likewise, Mr. Mutombo has been instrumental in the fight against polio by bolstering vaccination efforts and bringing treatment to victims of the disease."
In 2020, the Mutombo Foundation began construction of a modern pre-K through 6th-grade school in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Named for his father, who died in 2003, the Samuel Mutombo Institute of Science & Entrepreneurship is outside the city of Mbuji-Mayi.
Mutombo was awarded an honorary doctorate by Georgetown University in 2010. He also received an honorary doctorate from Haverford College in May 2011. In November 2015, the NCAA announced Mutombo as a recipient of its Silver Anniversary Awards for 2016. The announcement cited both his basketball career and extensive humanitarian work.
Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital[]
In 1997, the Mutombo Foundation began plans to open a $29 million, 300-bed hospital on the outskirts of his hometown, the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. Ground was broken in 2001, but construction didn't start until 2004, as he had trouble getting donations early on although he personally donated $3.5 million toward the hospital's construction. Initially he had other difficulties and almost lost the land to the government because it was not being used and having to pay refugees who had begun farming the land to leave. Mutombo also struggled to reassure some that he did not have any ulterior or political motives for the project. The project has been on the whole very well received at all social and economic levels in Kinshasa.
On August 14, 2006, Mutombo donated $15 million to the completion of the hospital for the ceremonial opening on September 2, 2006. By then it was named Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, for his late mother, who died of a stroke in 1997. When it opened in 2007, the $29 million facility became the first modern medical facility to be built in that area in nearly 40 years. The hospital is on a 12-acre (49,000 m2) site on the outskirts of Kinshasa in Masina, where about a quarter of the city's 7.5 million residents live in poverty. It is near N'djili Airport and by a busy open-air market.
National Constitution Center[]
Mutombo served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.
SportsUnited[]
In 2011, Mutombo traveled to South Sudan as a SportsUnited sports envoy for the U.S. Department of State. He worked with Sam Perkins to lead a series of basketball clinics and team-building exercises with 50 youths and 36 coaches helping contribute to the State Department's mission to remove barriers and create a world in which individuals with disabilities enjoy dignity and full inclusion in society.
Ask the Doctor[]
In April 2020, Mutombo joined Ask the Doctor as their chief global officer. Ask the Doctor is a platform that connects people from all over the world to top doctors and healthcare professionals.
Economic development and gender parity[]
In 2021, he created an eponymous coffee company, initially focused on the Congo to foster women growers' participation in international commerce.