NBA Africa and Quest Water Global have announced a multiyear partnership to build or renovate 55 basketball courts across the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 2030 in honour of the late Dikembe Mutombo. The project forms part of a broader commitment to build or renovate 1,000 courts across the continent over the next decade.
Quest Water Global has been named the NBA's Official Infrastructure Development Partner in the DRC. The initiative will include full-size and 3-on-3 courts.
The partnership began on September 29 with the unveiling of a new outdoor court at Cercle Onatra in Kinshasa, where Mutombo first began playing basketball with Basketball Club Onatra before moving to the United States. The court features his iconic No. 55 jersey number at centre court and is expected to serve thousands of young people from the surrounding community each year. NBA Africa also hosted a Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA coaching clinic for 80 local coaches. A second court is scheduled to be unveiled in Mutombo's hometown of Mbuji Mayi in the coming weeks.
Mutombo, who died in 2024 aged 58, was selected fourth overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1991 NBA Draft and spent 18 seasons in the league. The eight-time NBA All-Star won Defensive Player of the Year four times, led the NBA in blocked shots on three occasions and was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. He also helped establish the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa, which opened in 2007.
His widow Rose Mutombo said the new courts would help preserve her late husband's commitment to using basketball to positively influence young people. NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi added that the project would create new opportunities in a country central to Mutombo's legacy.
