By Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo – known for his shot-blocking and famed finger wave after denying opponents at the hoop – died Monday from brain cancer aged 58.
Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, he was an eight-time NBA All-Star and won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award four times.
His defensive prowess – leading the league in blocks for five consecutive seasons during an 18-year playing career and retiring second on the NBA’s all-time blocked shots list – was offset by his huge, playful smile.
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the 7-foot-2-inch Mutombo came to Washington’s Georgetown University initially on an academic scholarship in 1987 and rose to fame when he joined the basketball team in his second year.
He was selected fourth in the 1991 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.
Aside from the Nuggets, he played for the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, the then named New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets.
Off the court, the towering center was known for his humanitarian work. In 1997, Mutombo established the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation with a mission to improve education and quality of life in his native DRC.
In 2022, the NBA said Mutombo was receiving treatment for a brain tumor in Atlanta.
The league said he was surrounded by his family when he died on Monday, 30th of September, 2024.
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