NBA Africa and Quest Water Global announced on Monday a multiyear collaboration to build or renovate 55 standard and 3x3 basketball courts across the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 2030, honouring the late Dikembe Mutombo. The four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer died on 30 September 2024 in Atlanta from brain cancer.
The project supports a wider NBA Africa commitment to construct or refurbish 1,000 courts across the continent over the next decade and makes Quest Water Global the league's official infrastructure development partner in the DRC. The partnership began last Tuesday with the inauguration of an outdoor court at Cercle Onatra in Kinshasa, the club where Mutombo started his career before moving to the United States.
Each court will display Mutombo's iconic number 55. A second court is set to open in the coming weeks in Mbuji-Mayi, his hometown. NBA Africa also held a Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA training session for 80 local coaches to mark the launch.
John Balanko, CEO of Quest Water Global, said the collaboration reflected a shared belief that "healthy, thriving communities need more than one thing – they need clean water, safe spaces, and the opportunity to grow." Clare Akamanzi, CEO of NBA Africa, said the project would create more opportunities for young Congolese to "follow in his enormous footsteps both as players and leaders."
Mutombo, drafted fourth overall in 1991, spent 18 seasons in the NBA and was named an All-Star eight times. He finished his playing days as the second-leading shot blocker in league history before becoming the NBA's first global ambassador following his retirement in 2009. The Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital he built in Kinshasa opened to the public in 2007.
