Dikembe Mutombo dies at 58: Masai Ujiri, Joel Embiid, more reflect on big man’s legacy in Africa and beyond |Max Sporty|

To most American fans, Dikembe Mutombo will be remembered primarily as a basketball player. That’s a legacy he’s more than earned, winning four Defensive Player of the Year awards and reaching eight. NBA All-Star Games, but it also sells him short. The overwhelming sentiment of the basketball community after news of his death on Monday could be summed up in four words: great player, better person.

The legacy he built on the court is only a small part of his life story. Away from the court, the native of the Democratic Republic of Congo was a legendary philanthropist and ambassador to the game of basketball. In 1997, he began work on opening a $29 million hospital on the outskirts of his hometown in the Congolese capital of Kanshasa. The Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital finally opened in 2006, funded by money Mutombo raised and donated personally. In 2020 his foundation began construction of a school that would cover pre-K through sixth grade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He won awards for his humanitarianism and citizenship, and will forever be remembered for his charitable efforts.

His efforts in Africa were not exclusively charitable in nature. He was also one of the great ambassadors of basketball there in both an official and unofficial capacity. He served as an official global ambassador for the league, but he was also a mentor and role model that virtually every prominent member of the African basketball community looked up to. Monday was a media day around the NBA, and that gave people a chance to remember Mutomba and take stock of all he accomplished. No one has done this more eloquently and emotionally than Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who grew up in Nigeria.

“I’m sorry. It’s hard,” Ujiri said through tears. “I have to say though, that guy, he made us who we are. That guy is a giant. An incredible person. Who are we without Dikembe Mutombo? It’s not possible. It really isn’t. I went to Dikembe Mutombo’s hometown with him i went to his hospital you have no idea what that guy means to the world.

“I mean, he’s gone. Left us. And to Mutombo’s family, to Mama Rose, to his children, there are no words. That guy was the biggest giant you could ever find, with the biggest heart. I know he will rest well and his family will be fine He did so much for us for the continent of Africa, for his people I went to the hospital of Dikembe Mutombo in Kinshasa you don’t even smell like hospital You don’t understand that I grew up in hospitals court with him in Mbuji-Mayi, in his village, and spent a lot of time with him there And what he brought to youths on the continent, to people on the continent, you can’t even imagine even imagine what that guy did for me in my career.he took me by the wings in denver and made me grow as a person.

Ujiri went on to tell the story of meeting former South African President Nelson Mandela alongside Mutombo, and the standard he held all those around him to in doing so. “You know, I remember I was traveling and I saw Mutombo in Atlanta on the plane and I had just been promoted to director of scouting and I was wearing sweats to travel and he looked at me and he said, ‘Didn’t you just get promoted?’ Why do you wear sweats to travel? I remember we were going to meet Nelson Mandela in South Africa and he came down and some players came and he asked them where they were going, they were wearing sweats too, and he said, ‘Where are you going?’ They said, ‘We are going to meet Mandela, they chose seven of us to go and meet Nelson Mandela.’ And Dikembe said, ‘Well, go back upstairs and dress like you’re going to meet Nelson Mandela’. And that’s what Dikembe meant to us here.”

Players joined Ujiri in offering tributes to Ujiri. 76ers star Joel Embiid, who grew up in Cameroon, emphasized his dual impacts on and off the court. “It’s a sad day, especially for us Africans, and really the whole world, because, you know, in addition to what he accomplished on the basketball court, I think he was even better off the court,” Embiid. said. “He’s one of the guys that I look up to effectively not only on the court but off the court. He’s done a lot of great things, done a lot of great things for a lot of people, he’s been a role model of mine Like I said, it’s a sad day .”

Giannis Antetokounmpo offered similar sentiments, and highlighted the role Mutombo played in his own incredible career. “First of all, I want to wish his family my support, not only from me but from the Bucks organization. Obviously when someone passes away, it’s very difficult for everyone. My relationship with him, whenever I had a chance to go to the NBA. Africa, he was always there talking to me, advising me on how to approach the season or take care of my body Because he was big on taking care of your body – ice cream after games, stretching, trying different things like yoga was pretty much my relationship with him, but he always will be remembered may his soul rest in peace.

Joakim Noah, retired NBA center and winner of the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year award (which would later be renamed in Mutombo’s honor), shared his own story of Instagram about what Mutombo’s presence meant to him in a moment of sadness.

“A true African Giant. A giant among giants with an even bigger heart.

“Your unexpected story going from a medical student at Georgetown to a hall of fame basketball player inspired me as a young boy in Paris during my NBA career and beyond.

“I won Defensive Player of the Year in 2014 a day after I lost my mentor and second father Tyrone Green. The award felt meaningless at the time. But it was your award. I will never forget you handing me that trophy. It was the personal individual height of my career and receiving your trophy from you brought perspective back and made me feel the meaning in my life again.

“Spending time with you on the continent and launching the BAL the last few years was one of the most important things I’ve ever done and was so humbled to share these moments in Africa with you. You inspire generations and generations of young Africans and that will be your ultimate legacy.

“Rest in Peace Tonton.”

The NBA community obviously delivered its share of tributes, but perhaps the most significant came from his own family. His son Ryan wrote a touching farewell to his father on Instagram that perfectly distills what he meant to so many people.

“My father will forever be my hero. Not because of his success – not because of the millions who, over the last four decades, have come to know and love him. My father is my hero because he simply cared. He remains the purest. heart I have ever known. ever knew

“Sometimes, I thought of my father as a superman. The child in me would sigh to hear that this was never actually the case. My father was a regular man who never stopped to honor the world, its people, and its creator. He loved others through every ounce of his being.

“Dikembe Mutombo was salt and light, and today, September 30, 2024, he was called to rest.

“I love you, daddy. Keep calm.”

The love for Mutombo will surely continue to flow in as the hours and days pass. There are few basketball figures more widely beloved among their peers, yet as nearly all of them have explained, his impact on the world extended far beyond the game he loved.