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 Daryl Morey and Joel Embiid honor Dikembe Mutombo following the passing of the former Sixers center due to brain cancer.

When Daryl Morey first took on the role of general manager at 34, the concept of "Moreyball" had not yet made its mark on the NBA. At the time, he was with the Houston Rockets, where a 40-year-old Dikembe Mutombo was still making valuable contributions on the court.

“He was someone I always turned to,” Morey, now the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, shared during Monday's Sixers media day. “He was older than me, which was pretty rare.”

On Monday, the NBA announced that Mutombo had passed away from brain cancer at the age of 58. Morey paused his press conference at the Sixers’ practice facility in Camden, New Jersey, to remember Mutombo, an NBA Hall of Famer known for his shot-blocking and defensive dominance, which helped the Sixers reach the NBA Finals in 2000-01.

“I knew him personally. We spent many seasons together in Houston,” Morey said. “He was obviously very important to the Sixers franchise as well. There aren’t many like him... His on-court achievements speak for themselves, but what he did off the court for Africa was truly incredible. Rest in peace, Dikembe.”

Mutombo played in Houston for two seasons while Morey was the GM. He retired in 2009 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. Mutombo concluded his career as one of the greatest defensive centers in NBA history, second only to Hakeem Olajuwon in total blocked shots, finishing with 3,289 rejections, often followed by his iconic finger wag. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award four times, including in the 2000-01 season when the Sixers acquired him in a midseason trade from the Atlanta Hawks. The move was made in anticipation of a potential NBA Finals matchup against Los Angeles Lakers’ center Shaquille O'Neal. The matchup materialized as expected, with Mutombo anchoring the Sixers’ defense. Philadelphia won the Eastern Conference but fell to the Lakers in the Finals, becoming the only team to defeat Los Angeles during the 2001 NBA playoffs.

Mutombo was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and later moved to the United States to play college basketball at Georgetown University. He was drafted fourth overall by the Denver Nuggets in 1991 and went on to play for six teams throughout his 18-year career.

Beyond his basketball legacy, Mutombo made a tremendous impact off the court. In 1997, he founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in Congo, aiming to improve health, education, and quality of life in his homeland. He also served on the boards of Special Olympics International, the CDC Foundation, and the National Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and he eventually became the NBA’s first global ambassador.

“Dikembe was a humanitarian at his core. He understood the power of basketball to create positive change in communities, especially in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and across Africa,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “I had the privilege of traveling the world with Dikembe and witnessed firsthand how his generosity and compassion lifted up those around him.”

Sixers star Joel Embiid, born in Cameroon, also paid tribute to Mutombo. Embiid moved to the U.S. as a teenager and began playing basketball, later becoming a U.S. citizen and winning a gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Speaking for the first time since signing a contract extension, Embiid expressed his sadness over Mutombo’s passing.

“It’s a tough day, especially for us Africans and really the whole world, because aside from what he accomplished on the court, he was even more impactful off the court,” Embiid said. “He’s someone I’ve looked up to, not just for his achievements on the court but for everything he’s done for people off it. He was a true role model.”