NAIROBI, Kenya, February 16, 2025 – NBA Africa have established a brand new humanitarian award in honour of four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, Dikembe Mutombo.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says the NBA Africa Dikembe Mutombo Humanitarian Award will acknowledge an individual or a company that works to advance well being, training or financial alternative throughout the continent of Africa.
“Dikembe devoted his life to helping others and brought joy to so many people across Africa and around the world. This new award and the basketball courts built in his name will honor Dikembe’s extraordinary legacy as a global humanitarian,” Silver mentioned.
The award might be introduced yearly starting at subsequent yr’s NBA Africa All-Star luncheon.
Recipients will obtain a monetary grant to additional their humanitarian efforts and a donation from NBA Africa to a charity of their selection.
Furthermore, NBA Africa will donate 55 courts to native communities on the continent in honor Mutombo’s iconic jersey quantity, starting in his native Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo the place he first found his love for the sport.
Silver made the announcement on the 10th annual NBA Africa All-Star Luncheon in San Francisco, California, as a part of the NBA All-Star 2025.
True son of Africa
Selected fourth general within the 1991 NBA Draft, Mutombo spent 18 years within the NBA throughout which period he was an eight-time NBA All-Star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year.
His 18-year enjoying profession included stints at Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets.
He thrice led the league in blocked photographs and have become the second-leading shot blocker in NBA historical past.
Mutombo was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Upon his retirement from the league, he turned NBA’s first international ambassador.
He was one of many pioneers of the Basketball Without Borders programme by way of which he labored with different former gamers to enhance infrastructure across the continent and encourage younger abilities.
Outside of the courtroom, Mutombo touched lives by way of his charity actions through his Dikembe Mutombo Foundation.
Most notably, he constructed a normal hospital in Kinshasa and named it after his late mom — the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital.
He was a recipient of many awards, together with the Congressional Humanitarian Award (2013), John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Goodermote Humanitarian Award (2011), Laureus World Sports Award (2010), John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award (2010) and the U.S. President’s Service Award (2000).
‘Mount Mutombo’, as he was affectionately recognized, handed away in September final yr after a protracted battle with mind most cancers.
He was aged 58.