Oklahoma City Thunder’s Serge Ibaka was one of the players involved in first NBA Africa game, which was held in Johannesburg in August, 2015, though he did not play due to a knee issue. The game, which was the first of its kind on the African continent, was played to raise funds for South African charities, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages Association of South Africa and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Team World defeated Team Africa 101-97.
Ibaka is a popular player amongst basketball fans and his peers, with team-mates at Oklahoma City Thunder honouring his ability on the court with a variety of nickname. These include Air Congo, Serge Protector, and Iblocka, due to his excellent blocking and defensive skills.
The Congolese player is active on Twitter with an official account that is very popular, posting often to keep his fans updated. His handle is sergeibaka9, and he has over 705,000 followers on Twitter, while he only follows less than 200 other accounts. He joined the social media platform in October 2009, and has since posted over 5,900 tweets.
Though he only grew up with 10 of his siblings, Serge Ibaka is one of 18 children born to his father, Desire Ibaka. In an interview, he spoke about his family. “I liked growing up in a family atmosphere. Family pride is very important to me, which is also a common thing in Africa. You grow up with a strong sense of family…We took care of each other.”
Source: NewsOK.com
Desire Ibaka, Serge’s father, played professionally in Africa, as well as for the national team of the Republic of Congo. His mother, Amadou Djonga, was a member of the national team of the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire.
When remembering his first moments playing basketball, he told this story to ESPN. “My mom and dad played basketball too, so my dad was always asking me to come to see him play. So one day one of the guys who was playing with mey dad, he said, ‘Hey, let me teach you something.’ So he took an empty bottle of water and was using it as a ball and he said, ‘OK, take one step and do two and then jump – that’s all it is.’ I went back home, and all night I was doing it. All night. That’s all I could think about…That’s where everything started.”
Source: ESPN.Go.com
Ibaka’s father was always a big supporter of his basketball career, urging him to play from a young age. He often joked with his son that he was too tall to play soccer, and promised him an old jersey if he picked up the game. Ibaka still wears No. 9, as his father did.
With Congolese and Spanish citizenship, Ibaka is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Lingala. When he first began playing in the NBA, he spoke almost no English.
At the age of 8, Ibaka lost his mother to natural causes, and, the next year, the Second Congo War broke out. Ibaka and his family were forced to leave their home in Brazzaville for Ouesso, where they spent four years in adverse conditions. Upon returning home, Ibaka’s father was jailed as a political prisoner for more than a year for being a Republic of Congo citizen whpo worked in a port in the Democratic Republic of Congo – essentially, just for being on the wrong side of the battle line.
At 17, Ibaka moved to France to join a second-division basketball team. Shortly after, he made the move to Spain, teaching himself Spanish as he began playing with the second division basketball clubs there — particularly CB L’Hospitalet. After expressing an interest in playing for the Spanish national team early on, Ibaka finally became a Spanish citizen in July 2011, and has since helped lead Spain to a gold medal at the Eurobasket 2011, and a silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
After playing in Spain for several seasons, Ibaka entered several international showcases in 2008, when he won an MVP Award at the Reebok Eurocamp. It was there that he was noticed by NBA scouts. One remarked on Ibaka’s incredible athleticism. “Athletically, he’s off the charts – there’s no telling how good he can be.”
Source: SportsIllustrated.com
Drafted by the now-defunct Seattle SuperSonics in the 2008 NBA draft as 24th overall pick, Ibaka became the first player from his home country, the Republic of Congo, to be selected in the draft. Shortly after, the SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder and opted to keep Ibaka in the ACB League in Spain for the first year, before paying the buyout and signing him to a two-year contract in July 2009.
During the 2011 NBA lockout, Ibaka signed a two-month agreement with Real Madrid in Spain, with the option to return to the NBA at the end of the lockout, whenever that should be. Along with Spanish national and NBA teammate Rudy Fernández, Ibaka played in six games before returning to Oklahoma City in December 2011 at the end of the lockout.
From 2012 to 2014, Ibaka has been named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for three consecutive seasons, though he has yet to clinch the Defensive Player of the Year award. It’s a motivating factor that continues to push him during games, he said. “That’s it, that’s all I think about in my mind. Every time I’m about to give up, I think to myself, ‘You lost three years in a row Defensive Player of the Year.’ That’s what I am going for. I feel like I have that gift and that talent. I feel like if I keep working and doing what I have been doing, then one day it will happen. I believe it, I really believe it.”
Source: ESPN.Go.com
In the locker room, Ibaka takes out his French bible before every game, though he is able to recite prayers by heart. Speaking about his pre-game prayers, he said, “It’s very important because some people don’t have life. I have free life and so I just give thanks. I have come a long way.”
Source: NewsOK.com
