Dikembe Mutombo, 58, remembered for being humanitarian, basketball star

Dikembe Mutombo’s basketball career — including stints with the Nets and Knicks — would have spoken for itself even if he had retired to a quiet, private life.

He was a Hall of Famer who ranked among the most dynamic defenders in NBA history, famous for the finger wag with which he punctuated his blocked shots.

But when Mutombo died of brain cancer on Monday at 58, most who knew him or knew of him paid primary tribute to his humanitarian work, particularly in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo, and his efforts to promote the sport across the globe.

He was a towering man of towering achievements.

As NBA commissioner Adam Silver put it in a statement, “Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life.”

Silver noted Mutombo’s on-court prowess, then added, “Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

Of the six NBA teams he played for in 18 seasons, the 7-2 center out of Georgetown spent the least time with the Nets and Knicks — 24 regular-season games for the 2002-03 Nets and 56 for the ’03-04 Knicks.

But even with those teams, he made a lasting impression.

“A legend of the game, on and off the court,” the Nets said in a statement. “You will be missed, Dikembe.”

Mutombo played in all six games of the 2003 NBA Finals for the Nets, who lost to the Spurs and their “Twin Towers” of David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

The Knicks said in a statement, “He has impacted the game of basketball in so many ways, both on and off the court.”

Mutombo averaged 5.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks as a Knick, including a 10-block game in a 95-85 loss to the Nets on Jan. 4, 2004.

The newest Knick (once his trade becomes official), Karl-Anthony Towns, posted a picture of himself with Mutombo on “X.”

“We lost not only one of the best basketball players ever, but one of the best human beings we have ever seen,” Towns wrote. “Huge loss for the world and the NBA family. Rest in peace.”

Mutombo was born on June 25, 1966. He moved from Congo to the United States to play at Georgetown, teaming with fellow big man Alonzo Mourning.

The Nuggets drafted him fourth overall in 1991. He would go on to make eight NBA All-Star teams, win four Defensive Player of the Year awards and lead the league in blocked shots three times.

He averaged 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in the regular season.

Mutombo was a popular figure among fans, owing to his finger wag, his mostly sunny demeanor, his distinctive, gravelly voice and his insightful intellect. (He spoke nine languages.)

He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Mutombo’s humanitarian efforts earned him the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001 and ’09. He is the only player to win it twice.

In 1999, he received a President’s Volunteer Service Award. President George W. Bush invited Mutombo as a guest for his 2007 State of the Union address.

Among many other things, Mutombo opened a hospital near Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, in 2007 after a 10-year fundraising and logistical effort, giving the area a needed modern medical facility.

Many of his charitable efforts flowed through the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, which he founded in 1997.

The NBA named him its first “global ambassador.”

Teams around the NBA held “media day” sessions on Monday to tip off training camps, which gave players, coaches and executives a chance to pay tribute, some through tears.

“It’s a sad day, especially for us Africans, and really the whole world,” said 76ers center Joel Embiid, a native of Cameroon.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who grew up in Nigeria, said: “You have no idea what Dikembe Mutombo meant to me .  .  . That guy, he made us who we are. That guy is a giant, an incredible person.”

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, Mutombo’s teammate with the Nets, said, “When you talk about a great human being on and off the floor, the things that he did for his country, the hospital, he’s going to be dearly missed.”

When Mutombo arrived at Georgetown, speaking almost no English, he planned to pursue a medical degree. He found another path in life.

“I’m so glad I didn’t become a doctor,” he told the Daily Beast in 2010, “because I do more than any doctor can do.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.