THE AFRICAN KING: Celebrating the NBA Icon, Dikembe Mutombo

THE FINGER-WAGING KING OF A CONTINENT

The National Basketball Association’s first Global Ambassador and Hall of Fame member Dikembe Mutombo passed early Monday morning, surrounded by his loving family. He was 58.

An inspiration for later generations of NBA greats like Joel Embid and Masai Ujiri, Mutombo spent 18 seasons in the NBA, for Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philly, New York & New Jersey. A four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year; an eight-time NBA All Star.

Mutombo was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Following his playing days, Mutombo would lead the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, the Special Olympics International, CDC Foundation, the US Fund for UNICEF and many other charities, and humanitarian causes in his home nation, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and beyond.