Remembering Dikembe Mutombo

On the last day of September, the world of Basketball lost a true legend as the former Denver Nuggets center - Dikembe Mutombo have passed away from brain cancer. He was 58 years old.

Mutombo, who was born in the mid-1960s, was not interested in choosing basketball as his career! Until, he went to the United States for becoming a doctor and got enrolled to the Georgetown University through a scholarship.

After finding his passion, Mutombo decided to give his all spare time to basketball. Mutombo’s hard work was rewarded in 1991. When Mutombo was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the fourth overall pick of the NBA Draft that was a start of a brilliant career in basketball and particularly the NBA.

In a career spanning 18 seasons, Mutombo played in six NBA teams and reached the NBA Finals twice (2001, 2003) in his career.

Mutombo was known throughout the globe for two things: one for is his ‘finger wag’ which he used to do after blocking shooters who came near the rim and he was also known for his philanthropy works. Mutombo contributed a lot the society by opening a $ 30 Million hospital and a school in his home country at the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Seven years following his retirement in April 2009, Mutombo was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Thank you Mutombo for the memories, the world of basketball will dearly miss you and your contagious laugh.

By Dhruv Trivedi

October 01, 2024 in All Sports