NBA training camp is a time for reunion, renewal and optimism.
There are handshakes, hugs and smiles all around as team veterans meet up, while newcomers are no doubt nervous but filled with hope of making an immediate impact.
But the Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga will be starting the season with a heavy heart after the passing of a Democratic Republic of the Congo countryman who was big in stature and had an even bigger heart.
Dikembo Mutombo, an NBA Hall of Famer, humanitarian and the league’s first Global Ambassador, died Monday at age 58 after a battle with brain cancer.
“It was sad news. I’m not going to lie, every kid coming from the Congo looked up to Mutombo, even my dad,” Kuminga said Tuesday on the Warriors’ first day of training camp at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie. “I think he played against (Mutombo) when he was younger and still looked up to him. He was just a big influence coming out of Africa, especially Congo.”
Mutombo was born in Kinshasa, the DRC capital, on June 25, 1966. He was the first player from his country to play in the NBA.
Kuminga was born about 1,000 miles east in Goma on Oct. 6, 2002.
The distance between their hometowns and the age difference didn’t stop them from getting to know each other.
“We spoke a lot,” Kuminga said. “Great guy, of course. It was very sad hearing that news.”
Mutombo established the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997 to help improve education, medical care and quality of life in the DRC, a country still with limited clean drinking water, and high levels of poverty, disease and violence.
In 2007, the foundation helped build a hospital in Kinshasa named the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in honor of his late mother.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr played against the 7-foot-2 Mutombo and participated with him in humanitarian efforts.
“Yeah, such a sad day for everybody, obviously, in particular his family,” Kerr said. “Everybody with the Warriors has been thinking of the Mutombo family. I have great memories from really just two summers ago. Dikembe and I were in Cairo together with Basketball Without Borders and we had a great time reminiscing about the old days playing against each other. He’s been such an amazing ambassador for the league, in particular for Africa and NBA Africa.”
Mutombo and Kuminga, in his fourth season in the league, took different routes to the NBA.
Mutombo arrived in the United States in 1987 and played three seasons at Georgetown (1988 to 1991). He was selected No. 4 overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1991 NBA Draft.
Mutombo, an eight-time all-star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year, played 18 seasons in the NBA for six teams. He was known for his finger-wagging after blocking opponents’ shots and for holding the basketball above his head while on his back when his No. 8 seed Denver Nuggets beat the No. 1 Seattle SuperSonics in the 1994 playoffs.
Kuminga played high school basketball in the United States and opted to play for the NBA G League Ignite, a program for elite NBA prospects. The Ignite also featured veterans who mentored the young players.
“Ignite was great,” Kuminga said. “I always wanted to be a professional, and me choosing that path I felt like we had pretty much everyone that had played in the NBA before or been around the NBA, and just learning from Jarrett Jack, Amir Johnson, it was amazing.”
Kuminga was selected No. 7 overall by the Warriors in the 2021 NBA Draft. The NBA G League Ignite was shut down this March primarily because of the name, image, and likeness rights in college athletics.
Kuminga improved his scoring average more than six points last season to 16.1 per game. He shot 52.9% from the field and 32.1% from 3-point range.
“All this time I’ve been working on my 3s,” Kuminga said. “I’m just trying to get my catch-and-shoot percentage higher because that’s going to help everybody and open up the court. I’ve been working on that and that’s my main focus.”
There have been seven players born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have played in the NBA, according to basketball-reference.com. Kuminga and the Utah Jazz’s Oscar Tshiebwe are still active.
