Terrible news coming out today about NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo.
Mutombo has started treatment for a brain tumor.
Dikembe Mutombo is currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumor in Atlanta, the NBA said Saturday in a statement.
“[Mutombo] is receiving the best care possible from a collaborative team of specialists in Atlanta and is in great spirits as he begins treatment,” the league’s statement read. “Dikembe and his family ask for privacy during this time so they can focus on his care. They are grateful for your prayers and good wishes.”
Please send your thoughts and prayers.
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo (born June 25, 1966) is a Congolese-American former professional basketball player. Mutombo played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Outside basketball, he has become well known for his humanitarian work
The 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m), 260-pound (120 kg) center, who began his career with the Georgetown Hoyas, is commonly regarded as one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players of all time, winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times; he was also an eight-time All-Star. On January 10, 2007, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the second most prolific shot blocker in NBA history, behind only Hakeem Olajuwon, and he averaged a double-double for most of his career.
At the conclusion of the 2009 NBA playoffs, Mutombo announced his retirement. On September 11, 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
A well-known humanitarian, Mutombo started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve living conditions in his native Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. His efforts earned him the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001 and 2009. For his feats, Sporting News named him as one of the “Good Guys in Sports” in 1999 and 2000, and in 1999, he was elected as one of 20 winners of the President’s Service Awards, the nation’s highest honor for volunteer service. In 2004, he participated in the Basketball Without Borders NBA program, where NBA stars like Shawn Bradley, Malik Rose and DeSagana Diop toured Africa to spread the word about basketball and to improve the infrastructure. He paid for uniforms and expenses for the Zaire women’s basketball team during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. Mutombo is a spokesman for the international relief agency, CARE and is the first youth emissary for the United Nations Development Program.
Flip the page for more about what he is facing.