Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo has started undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, the NBA announced Saturday.
The league made the announcement on behalf of the 18-year NBA veteran center and his family, ESPN reported. Mutombo is being treated in Atlanta.
In a statement, the NBA said that the 56-year-old Mutombo, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, was in “great spirits.”
“Dikembe and his family ask for privacy during this time so they can focus on his care,” the NBA said. “They are grateful for your prayers and good wishes.”
Mutombo played for the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets before retiring after the 2008-09 season, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
The 7-foot-2 center was the league’s top defensive player four times, earned three All-NBA selections and played in eight All-Star Games, ESPN reported. Mutombo is 17th on the NBA’s all-time list in rebounds (12,359) and had 3,289 career blocks, second to Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830), according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Born on June 25, 1966, in Kinshasa, Congo, Mutombo played college basketball at Georgetown and was the Denver Nuggets’ first-round pick -- and fourth overall -- in the 1991 NBA Draft.
Mutombo has been a global ambassador for the NBA and recently appeared at this year’s Hall of Fame enshrinement events in Springfield, Massachusetts, according to The Associated Press.
He also appeared with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in August in the Congo, the news organization reported.
Mutombo, who speaks nine languages, founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997. The organization focuses on improving health, education and quality of life for the people in the Congo, ESPN reported.