Dikembe Mutombo’s reach was always destined to be global, canvassing far more of the world than the paint he patrolled for 18 seasons in the NBA.
From the moment he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the fourth overall pick in June of 1991, Mutombo had designs on something greater. Somehow, he’d give back to his native Democratic Republic of Congo, or honor his parents, who harnessed in him a love for science, or teach a younger generation how to tend to future ones.
Maybe, with his irrepressible energy and his infectious personality, he’d accomplish them all.