NBA legend and basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is receiving treatment for a brain tumor in Atlanta, the league introduced Saturday.
The 56-year-old former shot-blocking famous person is “in nice spirits,” a statement from the NBA on behalf of his household reads.
“He is receiving the perfect care potential from a collaborative workforce of specialists in Atlanta and is in nice spirits as he begins treatment,” the assertion reads. “Dikembe and his household ask for privateness throughout this time to allow them to deal with his care. They are grateful for your prayers and good needs.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver added: “Our ideas and prayers are with Dikembe, one of many world’s nice humanitarians.”
Born within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the 7-foot 2-inch Mutombo got here to Washington’s Georgetown University initially on a tutorial scholarship in 1987 — and rose to fame when he joined the basketball workforce in his second yr.
Selected fourth within the 1991 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets, Mutombo went on to turn into a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and an eight-time All-Star. He performed 18 seasons for Denver, the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets.
He retired second on the league’s profession blocked pictures record and was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Off the courtroom he’s recognized for his humanitarian work. In 1997, two years earlier than retiring from the NBA, Mutombo established the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation with a mission to enhance schooling and high quality of life within the Democratic Republic of the Congo.