They have more than one thing in common, but more important is the fact both Dikembe Mutombo and Hakeen Olajuwon are NBA legends that were born on the African continent.

Mutombo and Olajuwon are still vitally important in helping to grow the game in Africa and the rest of the world.

As the keystone of the Houston Rockets for 17 seasons, Olajuwon was instrumental in helping the team win back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995, with his scoring, rebounding and blocking skills.

Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon, who was selected with the number one pick in the 1984 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, placing ahead of greats like Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

The seven-foot center, who also played a season with the Toronto Raptors, formed one half of the Rockets’ intimidating “Twin Towers” duo with Ralph Sampson.

After hanging up his basketball sneakers, Olajuwon became a successful real-estate dealer in Houston, but his love for the game has kept his close to the court as he also became an instructor for NBA players who needed to improve their skills in the paint.

He has instructed current and former greats like Yao Ming, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Kenneth Faried and LeBron James.

On the continent, he was appointed as the NBA’s Ambassador for Africa in 2014 and has been involved in a number of Basketball Without Borders Africa (BWB) camps, and was also present at the official launch of the Power Forward development program in Abuja, Nigeria in the same year.

In 2015, after participating in BWB Africa and lending his expertise to young aspiring basketball players from the continent, he made a guest appearance in the first NBA Africa Game alongside fellow African NBA legend Mutombo.

Mutombo, who also played 18 seasons in the NBA, is the league’s global ambassador and been part of most if not all the BWB Africa camps. The seven-foot-plus native of the then Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) emerged as a star in the league while playing at the Denver Nuggets.

After bursting on the scene as a rookie phenomenon in Denver in 1991, much like other African players before him, Mutombo soon became a hero in his home country while his fame on the global scale quickly grew bigger than his physical stature.

Throughout his NBA career, the center/forward won the league’s defensive player of the year award four times.

His larger-than-life character has also seen him using his humongous hands to block shots on the hardwood and for humanitarian work off the court.

In 2007, he saw the completion of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, a 300-bed facility on the outskirts of Congolese capital Kinshasa, much of it paid for out of his own pocket.

Mutombo started his humanitarian work early on in his NBA career, mainly through the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, which he set up in 1997. The foundation was created to find ways to improve the living conditions of people on the African continent and eradicate deadly diseases.

Currently, Mutombo makes use of his legendary status to help mentor young basketball talent as well as advance several worthy causes, including United for Children, the United Against AIDS campaign, CARE and the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders.

By Kaunda Chama