Dikembe Mutombo
Congolese-American basketball player / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 of basketball, he is well known for his humanitarian work.
A 7-foot-2-inch (2.18 m), 260-pound (120 kg) center, Mutombo moved to the United States from the Democratic Republic of the Congo at age 21 to play college basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas. In 1991, the Denver Nuggets chose Mutombo with the fourth overall pick of the NBA draft. During his NBA career, he played for six teams. Mutombo played in the NBA Finals for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001 and for the New Jersey Nets in 2003. Mutombo is commonly regarded as one of the best shot-blockers and defensive players of all time; he received the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times. Mutombo led the NBA in blocked shots three times, led the league in rebounds twice, and was named to eight All-Star teams. On January 10, 2007, Mutombo reached second place on the list of NBA career leaders in blocked shots.
At the conclusion of the 2009 NBA playoffs, Mutombo announced his retirement. His number 55 jersey has been retired by both the Atlanta Hawks and the Denver Nuggets. Mutombo was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 11, 2015.