A figurative and literal giant of the game of basketball, Dikembe Mutombo died Monday at the age of 58.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the cause of death was brain cancer.
Mutombo was perhaps the league’s best defensive player ever. A four-time winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award, he finished second in NBA history in blocks, making the All-Star game eight times.
After basketball, Mutombo continued to make an impact as a humanitarian, in both the Democratic Republic of Congo and throughout Africa.
Mutombo was the first Congolese NBA player and paved the way for others to come after him, including new Jazz two-way contract signing Oscar Tshiebwe.
Naturally, Mutombo meant a lot to Tshiebwe.
“It is a tough day to see somebody (die), still young, at the age of 58. He still could do a lot of things for people. He helped a lot of Congolese build a hospital, his hospital is number one in Congo and taking care of lot of people. When I woke up, I heard that news, I was really heartbroken, and I just went to my knee and I prayed,” Tshiebwe said about Mutombo. “He was there for people, and means a lot for me — I don’t know what to do but just pray and just stay strong. This is life.”
Tshiebwe was then asked if he had ever met Mutombo, who played in the NBA until he was 42, facing the Jazz three times in the playoffs, including two epic seven-game series 13 years apart, one against Denver in 1994 and one against Houston in 2007.
“I spoke to him on the phone. There was the one time that he was trying to recruit me to go to play for Patrick Ewing at Georgetown,” Tshiebwe said. “I saw Patrick Ewing calling me, and I pick up the phone, and he was like ‘Hey, this is Dikembe.’ I said, ‘Man, you’ve got a deep voice!’
“He said ‘Yeah, Oscar, you’ve got to come to Georgetown.’ I said, ‘Why I gotta come over there?,’ he said, ‘You gotta come here, we’re gonna teach you how to break people’s nose.’”
Tshiebwe ultimately decided to play at West Virginia before transferring to Kentucky, where the prodigious rebounder finished second in all of college basketball behind only Zach Edey in his final season. Last season, he averaged 16 rebounds per game in the G-League while only averaging 26 minutes per night; The Jazz signed him to their open two-way contract slot after the Pacers let him go in June.
On Monday, Tshiebwe remembered the words of encouragement Mutombo gave him when they spoke — the memory of which brought a smile to the younger Congolese player’s face.
