Serge Ibaka

Serge Jonás Ibaka Ngobila (born 18 September 1989) is a Congolese-Spanish professional basketball player for Bayern Munich of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague.

With Inter's senior team, he played in the 2006 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup, the highest competition in Africa.

There, he led the competition in rebounds and was named to the competition's All-Star Five.

In March 2007, Ibaka moved to France at the age of 17 and joined a second-division basketball team before moving to Spain, where he taught himself Spanish.

In Spain, he soon began playing with a second-division basketball club CB L'Hospitalet.

He averaged 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds and shot 55%.

Ibaka was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 24th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

Ibaka is a three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection and has twice led the league in blocks.

Although born in the Republic of the Congo, Ibaka is also a Spanish citizen and has played for the Spain national team.

In 2008, he entered several international showcases, picking up an MVP award at the Reebok Eurocamp and the attention of NBA scouts.

An NBA scout at one of the camps said that "athletically he's off the charts—there's no telling how good he can be".

Ibaka was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 24th pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

He became the first player from the Republic of Congo to be selected in the draft, although the Oklahoma City Thunder (the re-branded SuperSonics that relocated to Oklahoma City six days after the draft) agreed to keep him in Europe.

He then signed a three-year contract with Ricoh Manresa from the ACB League in Spain, keeping the option to leave for the NBA after each season.

In the ACB, he averaged 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1 block in 16 minutes per game.

In July 2009, the Thunder paid the buyout for Ibaka's deal with Manresa, and signed him to a two-year contract with two more optional seasons.

Although coming to the NBA as a raw talent, Ibaka had managed to become a starter in the Thunder rotation.

He was often used for his energy in the paint, whether on defense or rebounding.

In his first NBA season, Ibaka played 18.1 minutes per game in 73 games, averaging 6.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.

His blocks average led all rookies in the 2009–10 season, and he ranked number 20 overall.

In the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers, he played in 6 games, averaging 25.5 minutes, 7.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2 blocks per game.

His 7 blocks in game two in Los Angeles was a record (youngest player to have 7 blocks in playoff game).

On 19 February 2011, Ibaka participated in the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

He began the contest with a free-throw line dunk.

In the second round, Ibaka grabbed a stuffed animal from the rim with his mouth and dunked in one motion.

However, he lost out to Blake Griffin in the competition.

During the 2011 NBA lockout, Ibaka signed a two-month contract with Real Madrid in Spain alongside Spain national basketball team teammate and friend Rudy Fernández with an option to return to the NBA at the end of the lockout.

Over 6 games in the Euroleague, he averaged 5.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2 blocks in 15 minutes per game.

After the lockout, Ibaka returned to the NBA from Spain.

On 19 February 2012, he recorded his first career triple-double against the Denver Nuggets, scoring 14 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and getting a career-high 11 blocks.

He played all 66 games in the shortened season as a starter, averaging the most blocks in the league, 3.6 per game.

In voting for the Defensive Player of the Year, he finished second behind Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks.

In Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Ibaka went 11–11 from the field.

In 2019, he won an NBA championship as a key member of the Toronto Raptors.

Ibaka was born in Brazzaville, People's Republic of the Congo (modern-day Republic of the Congo), and is the third youngest of 18 children.

His father played basketball in the Republic of the Congo and with the Congolese national team, and his mother played for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He started playing basketball at a very young age with his first club, Avenir du Rail, using the sport as an escape from his mother's untimely death and his father's imprisonment during the Second Congo War.

His father organized for the family to flee the country prior to the war, but ended up as a political prisoner upon their return.

After playing for the Avenir du Rail senior team, Ibaka later joined rival club Inter Club junior team.

Ibaka preferred the club because of its better structure, as it provided sneakers and meals.