Daryl Morey and Joel Embiid pay tribute to Dikembe Mutombo after the former Sixers center died of brain cancer

When Daryl Morey first became general manager, he was 34 years old and the era of “Moreyball” had not yet begun in the NBA. He was in Houston, where the then 40-year-old Dikembe Mutombo was still pitching for the Rockets.

“He was someone I went to all the time,” Morey, now Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations, said during the Sixers media day on Monday. “He was older than me, which is pretty rare.”

The NBA announced on Monday Mutombo had died of brain cancer. He was 58.

Morey interrupted his news conference at the Sixers' training facility in Camden, New Jersey, to briefly talk about Mutombo, an NBA Hall of Famer whose shot-blocking and defensive abilities excite him helped Philadelphia reach the NBA Finals in 2000-01.

“I knew him personally. We were together in Houston for many seasons,” Morey said. “Of course also very important for the Sixers franchise. There aren't many people like him. … Of course we don’t have to talk too much about his achievements on the pitch, but he was just a great person.” from the pitch for Africa. Rest in peace, Dikembe.

Mutombo played two seasons in Houston while Morey was GM. He retired in 2009 and was Inducted into the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Mutombo ended his playing career as one of the best defensive centers of all time. Only Hakeem Olajuwon blocked more shots in NBA history – he had 3,289 blocks in his career, most of them followed by his famous finger wag. He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times, including in the 2000-2001 season when the Sixers acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks in a midseason trade.

Philadelphia traded Mutombo for Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal in preparation for a possible NBA Finals game. The match turned successful as Mutombo helped round out the Sixers' lineup. The Sixers won the Eastern Conference but were unable to defeat the Lakers in the Finals. They were the only team to beat LA in the 2001 NBA playoffs.

Mutombo was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and moved to the United States to play college basketball at Georgetown University. The Denver Nuggets selected him fourth overall in 1991 and played for six teams in his 18-year career.

While his basketball resume speaks for itself, Mutombo has impacted the world off the court. In 1997 he founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in Congo with the aim of improving health, education and quality of life in the African country. Additionally, Mutombo served on the boards of Special Olympics International, the CDC Foundation and the National Board of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. He later became the NBA's first global ambassador.

“He was a humanitarian at heart. “He loved what the game of basketball could do to have a positive impact on communities, particularly in his homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo and across the African continent,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “I had the privilege of traveling the world with Dikembe and seeing firsthand how his generosity and compassion encouraged people.”

Sixers superstar Joel Embiid was born in Cameroon and later came to the United States, where he started playing basketball as a teenager. In 2022, Embiid will became an American citizen and even won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Monday is the first time I've spoken since then Signing a contract extensionEmbiid expressed his condolences to the Mutombo family.

“It's a sad day, especially for us Africans and actually for the whole world because apart from what he achieved on the basketball court, I think he was even better off the court,” Embiid said. “He’s one of the guys I look up to when it comes to making a difference, not just on the pitch but off the pitch too. He did a lot of great things. He did a lot of great things for a lot of people. He was a role model for me.”