Dikembe Mutombo, a Hall of Fame player and tireless advocate, dies at 58 from brain cancer

Dikembe Mutombo, a Basketball Corridor of Famer who was top-of-the-line defensive gamers in NBA historical past and a longtime international ambassador for the sport, died Monday from mind most cancers, the league introduced. He was 58.

His household revealed two years in the past that he was present process therapy in Atlanta for a mind tumor. The NBA stated he died surrounded by his household.

“Dikembe Mutombo was merely bigger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated. “On the court docket, he was one of many best shot blockers and defensive gamers within the historical past of the NBA. Off the ground, he poured his coronary heart and soul into serving to others.”

Mutombo was distinctive in so some ways — the playful finger wag at opponents after blocking their photographs, his peak, his deep and gravelly voice, his large smile. Gamers of this technology had been at all times drawn to him and Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon, regarded to Mutombo as an inspiration.

“It’s a tragic day, particularly for us Africans, and actually the entire world,” Embiid stated Monday. “Aside from what he’s completed on the basketball court docket, I believe he was even higher off the court docket. He’s one of many guys that I look as much as, so far as having an influence, not simply on the court docket, however off the court docket. He’s finished numerous nice issues. He did numerous nice issues for lots of people. He was a task mannequin of mine. It’s a unhappy day.”

Mutombo spent 18 seasons within the NBA, taking part in for Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and the then-New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-2 middle out of Georgetown was an eight-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA choice and went into the Corridor of Fame in 2015 after averaging 9.8 factors and 10.3 rebounds per recreation for his profession.

“It’s actually arduous to imagine,” Toronto President Masai Ujiri stated Monday, pausing a number of occasions as a result of he was overcome with emotion shortly after listening to the information of Mutombo’s loss of life. “It’s arduous for us to be with out that man. You don’t have any thought what Dikembe Mutombo meant to me. … That man, he made us who we’re. That man is a huge, an unimaginable individual.”

Mutombo final performed in the course of the 2008-09 season, devoting his time after retirement to charitable and humanitarian causes. He spoke 9 languages and based the Dikembe Mutombo Basis in 1997, concentrating on bettering well being, schooling and high quality of life for the individuals within the Congo.

Ryan Mutombo, the Corridor of Famer’s son, stated in a tribute posted on social media that his father “liked others with each ounce of his being.”

“My dad is my hero as a result of he merely cared,” Ryan Mutombo wrote. “He stays the purest coronary heart I’ve ever identified.”

Mutombo served on the boards of many organizations, together with Particular Olympics Worldwide, the CDC Basis and the Nationwide Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

“There was no one extra certified than Dikembe to function the NBA’s first World Ambassador,” Silver stated. “He was a humanitarian at his core. He liked what the sport of basketball might do to make a constructive influence on communities, particularly in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and throughout the continent of Africa.”

Mutombo is considered one of three gamers to win the NBA’s Defensive Participant of the Yr 4 occasions. The others: reigning DPOY winner Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Corridor of Famer Ben Wallace.

“He was at all times there to speak to me and advise me on the way to method the season and deal with my physique and icing after video games and stretching and making an attempt various things like yoga,” Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo stated. “He will probably be at all times remembered and should his soul relaxation in peace.”

Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey — who was with Mutombo for a lot of seasons in Houston — was knowledgeable of his good friend’s loss of life in the course of the crew’s media day on Monday. Tears welled in Morey’s eyes as he processed the information.

“There aren’t many guys like him,” Morey stated. “Only a nice human being. Once I was a rookie GM on this league, my first probability in Houston, he was somebody I went to on a regular basis. … His accomplishments on the court docket, we don’t want to speak about an excessive amount of. Simply an incredible human being, what he did off the court docket for Africa. Relaxation in peace, Dikembe.”

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By Tim Reynolds

AP Sports activities Writers Steve Megargee in Milwaukee and Dan Gelston in Camden, New Jersey, and Related Press author Ian Harrison in Toronto contributed to this report.