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NBA world reacts to the death of Dikembe Mutombo

Dikembe Mutombo

Dikembe Mutombo

AP

EL SEGUNDO — As much as everyone feels the pain of the loss of Dikembe Mutombo — who died Monday at the age of 58 — it was hard to talk about him and the joy he brought everywhere he went without a smile coming across people’s faces.

That was the case with LeBron James at Lakers media day — and he was talking about a fractured face. Still, he was smiling about it.

“I mean, first of all, my condolences goes to him, to his family...” LeBron said at Lakers media day. “My fondest memory of Dikembe Mutombo — he fractured my face. On my birthday in Cleveland with an elbow. I never even got an opportunity to, like, tell him about that. But, yeah, I don’t remember how old I was, I was in Cleveland, my first stint... he was in Houston... And I went to the hole and caught one of those Dikembe elbows. And if anybody knows about the Dikembe elbow, they do not feel good. He fractured my face, and I went to the hospital that night, and I wore a mask for a little bit. Yeah, yeah. So that is my memory of Dikembe.”

Here are some other memories about Mutombo from around the NBA.