{"id":5246,"date":"2024-09-30T21:50:51","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T21:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/dikembe-mutombo-nba-legend-dies-from-brain-cancer-aged-58\/"},"modified":"2024-09-30T21:50:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T21:50:52","slug":"dikembe-mutombo-nba-legend-dies-from-brain-cancer-aged-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/dikembe-mutombo-nba-legend-dies-from-brain-cancer-aged-58\/","title":{"rendered":"Dikembe Mutombo: NBA legend dies from brain cancer aged 58"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo has died from brain cancer at the age of 58.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The eight-time NBA All-Star, who retired in 2009, spent 18 years playing in the league for the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Mutombo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/africa\/63284976\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">began treatment for a brain tumour<\/a> in October 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,&#8221; said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;On the court he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Standing 7ft 2in (2.18m) tall, DR Congo-born centre Mutombo was discovered while studying at Georgetown University and was selected by the Nuggets with the fourth overall pick in the 1991 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His warm personality and trademark finger-wagging celebration made him a fan favourite.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He twice reached the NBA Finals, first for the 76ers in 2001 and then the Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) two years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Known for his defensive game, he led the NBA in blocked shots for five consecutive seasons and blocks per game for a record three consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Following his retirement both the Hawks and Nuggets retired his number 55 shirt, and in 2015 he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Mutombo was a global ambassador for the NBA and carried out humanitarian work in his home country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He loved what the game of basketball could do to make a positive impact on communities, especially in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and across the continent of Africa,&#8221; Silver added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He was always accessible at NBA events over the years &#8211; with his infectious smile, deep booming voice and signature finger wag that endeared him to basketball fans of every generation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/basketball\/articles\/c243z09g6vzo\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo has died from brain cancer at the age of 58. The eight-time NBA All-Star, who retired in 2009, spent 18 years playing in the league for the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. Mutombo began treatment for a brain tumour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-africa","category-world-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5248,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5246\/revisions\/5248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}