As announced by the President and Governor of the Denver Nuggets basketball franchise, Josh Kroenke, the team will retire former legend Dikembe Mutombo's #55 jersey on Saturday Oct 29 2016, the opening night of the 2016/17 NBA Season. He will become the fifth player and sixth representative in team history to have his number enshrined in the rafters
Dikembe was drafted fourth overall by Denver Nuggets in the 1991 NBA Draft and he played with Nuggets from then till 1996 when he left for Atlanta Hawks as a free agent. As a member of the Nuggets, he was a three-time NBA All-Star (‘92, '95 and '96), three-time NBA blocked shots leader (‘93-94, '94-95, '95-96), named Defensive Player of the Year in ‘94-95 and was instrumental in helping the Nuggets become the first eighth-seeded team to defeat a number one seed in NBA Playoff history.
Mutombo still remains the Nuggets all-time leader in blocked shots (1,486)
Dikembe's humanitarian projects makes him as popular off the court as he was on the court. He created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997, opened the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2007 and has been one of the leaders of the Basketball Without Borders program in Africa for over 15 years.
Dikembe Mutombo was made an NBA Global Ambassador in 2009 and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2015.
Congratulations Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo, the true son of Congo
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