Adam Silver Announces NBA Africa Dikembe Mutombo Humanitarian Award

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced the creation of a new award honoring late NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo on Saturday.

As part of the NBA Africa All-Star luncheon, Silver revealed the NBA Africa Dikembe Mutombo Humanitarian Award, which will be given annually to "a person or an organization that works to advance health, education or economic opportunity across Africa," per ESPN's Marc J. Spears.

Mutombo, who died in September at the age of 58 due to brain cancer, was the NBA's first global ambassador, and he had a significant hand in the development of basketball on his home continent.

According to Spears, Silver also said Saturday that the NBA plans to build 55 courts across Africa in Mutombo's honor. The first will be built in Mutombo's home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mutombo was one of the greatest Africa-born basketball players of all time, as he spent 18 seasons in the NBA from 1991 to 2009 with the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets.

The 7'2" center was a defensive stalwart, earning eight career All-Star selections, four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards, three All-NBA nods, six NBA All-Defensive Team selections, three block titles and two rebounding titles.

Over 1,196 career NBA games, Mutombo averaged 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per contest.

Mutombo is second in NBA history in career blocks with 3,289 and 20th in rebounds with 12,359, and he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Despite his on-court greatness, Mutombo's most lasting legacy is arguably the humanitarian work he did in Africa, which will be recognized for years to come thanks to the formation of the NBA Africa Dikembe Mutombo Humanitarian Award.