The 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m), 260-pound (120 kg) center, who began his career with the Georgetown Hoyas, is commonly regarded as one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players of all time, winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times; he was also an eight-time All-Star. On January 10, 2007, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the second most prolific shot blocker in NBA history, behind only Hakeem Olajuwon, and he averaged a double-double for most of his career.^[4][5]

At the conclusion of the 2009 NBA playoffs, Mutombo announced his retirement. On September 11, 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.^[6]

Early life 

Mutombo was born on June 25, 1966, in Leopoldville (today Kinshasa), Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of 10^[7] children of Samuel and Biamba Marie Mutombo.^[8][9] He speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and five Central African languages, including Lingala and Tshiluba.^[10][11] He is a member of the Luba ethnic group.^[12] For high school, Mutombo went to Boboto College in Kinshasha, DR Congo to lay the groundwork for his medical career as the classes were more challenging there. At around age 16, Mutombo decided to also work on his basketball career.^[13] He moved to the United States in 1987 at the age of 21 to enroll in college.^[14]

College

Mutombo attended Georgetown University on a USAID scholarship. He originally intended to become a doctor, but the Georgetown Hoyas basketball coach John Thompson recruited him to play basketball.^[15][16] He spoke almost no English when he arrived at Georgetown and studied in the ESL program.^[17][18] During his first year of college basketball as a sophomore, Mutombo once blocked 12 shots in a game.^[19] Building on the shot-blocking power of Mutombo and teammate Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown fans created a “Rejection Row” section under the basket, adding a big silhouette of an outstretched hand to a banner for each shot blocked during the game.^[20][21] Mutombo was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year twice, in 1990 (shared with Mourning) and in 1991.^[22]

At Georgetown, Mutombo’s international background and interests stood out. Like many other Washington-area college students, he served as a summer intern, once for the Congress of the United States and once for the World Bank.^[23] In 1991, he graduated with bachelor’s degrees in linguistics and diplomacy.^[24]

NBA career

Denver Nuggets

In the 1991 NBA draft, the Denver Nuggets drafted Mutombo with the fourth overall pick.^[25] The Nuggets ranked last in the NBA in opponent points-per-game and Defensive Rating,^[26] and Mutombo’s shot-blocking ability made an immediate impression across the league. He developed his signature move in 1992 as a way to become more marketable and gain product endorsement contracts.^[27] After blocking a player’s shot, he would point his right index finger at that player and move it side to side.^[28] That year, Mutombo starred in an Adidas advertisement that used the catchphrase “Man does not fly … in the house of Mutombo”, a reference to his prolific shot-blocking.^[29] As a rookie, Mutombo was selected for the All-Star team and averaged 16.6 points, 12.3 rebounds, and nearly three blocks per game.

Mutombo began establishing himself as one of the league’s best defensive players, regularly putting up big rebound and block numbers. The 1993–94 season saw Denver continue to improve with Mutombo as the franchise cornerstone. During that season, Mutombo averaged 12.0 points per game, 11.8 rebounds per game, and 4.1 blocks per game.^[30] With that, he helped the Nuggets finish with a 42-40 record and qualify as the eighth seed in the playoffs. They were matched up with the top-seeded 63–19 Seattle SuperSonics in the first round.

After falling to an 0-2 deficit in the five-game series, Denver won three straight games to pull off a major playoff upset, becoming the first eighth seed to defeat a number one seed in an NBA playoff series.^[31] At the end of Game 5, Mutombo memorably grabbed the game-winning rebound and fell to the ground, holding the ball over his head in a moment of joy.^[32] Mutombo’s defensive presence was the key to the upset victory; his total of 31 blocks remains a record for a five-game series.^[29] In the second round of the playoffs, the Nuggets fell to the Utah Jazz, 4-3.

The following season, he was selected for his second All-Star game and received the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. But Denver failed to build on its success from the previous playoffs, as Mutombo lacked a quality supporting cast around him. During his last season with the Nuggets, Mutombo averaged 11.0 points per game, 11.8 rebounds per game and a career-high 4.5 blocks per game.^[33]

At the conclusion of the 1995–96 season, Mutombo became a free agent, and reportedly sought a 10-year contract, something the Nuggets considered impossible to offer. Bernie Bickerstaff, then the Nuggets’ general manager, later said not bringing back Mutombo was his biggest regret as GM.^[34]

Atlanta Hawks

After the 1995–96 NBA season, Mutombo signed a 5-year, $55 million free agent contract with the Atlanta Hawks.^[35][36] He and Hawks All-Star Steve Smith led Atlanta to back-to-back 50+-win seasons in 1996–97 (56–26) and 1997–98 (50–32). The Hawks defeated the Detroit Pistons in five games in the first round of the 1997 NBA Playoffs, but lost in five games in the second round to the defending champion Chicago Bulls. Mutombo won Defensive Player of the Year both years, continuing to put up excellent defensive numbers with his new team. During the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season, he was the NBA’s IBM Award winner, a player of the year award determined by a computerized formula. That year, the NBA banned the Mutombo finger wag, and after a period of protest, he complied with the new rule.^[37]

In what would be his last full season with the Hawks during the 1999-00 season, Mutombo averaged 11.5 points per game, a career and league-high 14.1 rebounds per game, and 3.3 blocks per game. On December 14, 1999, Mutombo scored 27 points, on 11-for-11 shooting from the field, grabbed a season-high 29 rebounds and recorded a game-high 6 blocks to pull out the win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.^[38]

Philadelphia 76ers

At the February 2001 trade deadline, the Hawks traded Mutombo to the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia 76ers, along with Roshown McLeod, in exchange for Pepe Sánchez, Toni Kukoč, future teammate Nazr Mohammed, and injured center Theo Ratliff.^[39] One week earlier, Mutombo played in the All-Star game; he led the game with 22 rebounds and 3 blocks. Along with game MVP Allen Iverson and coach Larry Brown, both of the 76ers, the East rallied from a 95–74 fourth-quarter deficit to win 111-110 on Mutombo and Iverson’s strong performances.^[40] After the game, rumors began of a trade sending Mutombo to Philadelphia.^[41] With Ratliff out for the remainder of the year, the Sixers needed a big man to compete with potential matchups against Western Conference powers Vlade Divac, Tim Duncan, David Robinson or Shaquille O’Neal, should they reach the NBA Finals.^[42]

In arguably his best season as a pro, Mutombo earned his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award that season. During the 2001 Playoffs, they defeated the Indiana Pacers in 4 games, Toronto Raptors in 7 games and Milwaukee Bucks in a 7-game series. During Game 7 against the Bucks, Mutombo scored 23 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked 7 shots to win the series.^[43] Mutombo helped the Sixers reach the NBA Finals. After pulling off an upset and winning Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers (the only playoff game the Lakers lost in 2001), the Sixers lost the next four games and the series. Matched up against Shaq, Mutombo averaged 16.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. A free-agent, he re-signed with the Sixers after the season to a four-year, $68 million contract.^[44]

The 2001–02 season saw a change in the Eastern conference hierarchy; the Sixers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, while the New Jersey Nets surged to the top of the standings, making it all the way to the Finals against the Lakers (the Nets were swept).

New Jersey Nets

Looking for a big man to compete with the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan, the Nets sent future teammate Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch to Philadelphia in exchange for Mutombo.^[45] But Mutombo spent most of that season with a nagging injury that limited him to just 24 games. He was generally unable to play in the playoffs, typically serving as a sixth man during the Nets’ second consecutive Finals run (they lost to the Spurs in six games). After one contentious season in New Jersey, the Nets bought out the remaining two years on his contract.^[46]

New York Knicks

In October 2003, he signed a two-year deal with the New York Knicks.^[47] After a dominant performance against the crosstown rival New Jersey Nets that included 10 blocks, Knicks fans began waving their fingers at Mutombo. He chose to respond in kind after a referee told him that as long as the gesture was not directed at a particular player, the league would not punish him.^[37] In August 2004, the Knicks traded him to the Chicago Bulls, along with Cezary Trybański, Othella Harrington, and Frank Williams in exchange for Jerome Williams and Jamal Crawford.^[48]

Houston Rockets

Prior to the 2004–05 season, the Bulls traded Mutombo to the Houston Rockets for Mike Wilks, Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin.^[49] Yao Ming and Mutombo formed one of the NBA’s most productive center combos. In his first season with the Rockets, Mutombo averaged 15.2 MPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.0 PPG, and 1.3 BPG. The Rockets lost in the first round to the Dallas Mavericks.

On March 2, 2007, in a win over the Denver Nuggets at age 40, Mutombo became the oldest player in NBA history to record more than 20 rebounds in a game, with 22.^[50]

In the 2007–08 season, Mutombo received extensive playing time when Yao went down with a broken bone and averaged double digits in rebounding as a starter. In midst of a 10-game winning streak at the time of Yao’s injury, Mutombo stepped in and helped the Rockets win 12 more games to complete a 22-game winning streak, then a team record.^[51][52]

On January 10, 2008, in a 102–77 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers, Mutombo recorded 5 blocked shots and surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in total career blocked shots, trailing only Hakeem Olajuwon.^[53][54]

After contemplating retirement and spending the first part of 2008 as an unsigned free agent, on December 31, 2008, Mutombo signed with the Houston Rockets for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. He said that the 2009 would be his “farewell tour” and his final season; he was the oldest player in the NBA in 2009.^[55] In Game 1 of Houston’s first-round playoff series against Portland, Mutombo played for 18 minutes and had nine rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.^[56]

In the 2nd quarter of Game 2, Mutombo landed awkwardly and had to be carried from the floor. After the game, he said, “it’s over for me for my career” and that surgery would be needed.^[55][57] It was later confirmed that the quadriceps tendon of his left knee was ruptured in Game 2.^[58] Mutombo announced retirement on April 23, 2009, after 18 seasons in the NBA.^[57]

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