Didier Ilunga-Mbenga

Didier Ilunga-Mbenga
Player information
Nickname	DJ Congo Cash
birthday	December 30, 1980
place of birth	Kinshasa, Zaire
size	213 cm
position	center
Club information
society	Barako Bulls
league	PBA
Clubs as active
2001–2002 Spirou Gilly 2002–2003 Basket Groot Leuven 2003–2004 Spirou BC Charleroi 2004–2007 Dallas Mavericks 2007–2008 Golden State Warriors 2008–2010 Los Angeles Lakers 2010–2011 New Orleans Hornets 2012 Qingdao Eagles ( CBA ) Since 2013 Barako Bulls ( PBA ) 00000 0
National team
	Belgium

Didier Ilunga-Mbenga (born December 30, 1980 in Kinshasa , Zaire ), often also called DJ Mbenga , is a Congolese - Belgian basketball player . After fleeing his native country, he began to play basketball professionally in Belgium and later moved to the US professional league NBA , where he won the championship with the LA Lakers in 2009 and 2010, after having previously played with the Dallas Mavericks in 2006 and the Lakers Had reached the finals twice in 2008.

Mbenga was born the son of a civil servant who was imprisoned by the new regime during the Congo Wars . He and his brother spent nine months in captivity until his brother bribed a guard so they could escape to Belgium. Mbenga's father was killed, but he was given political asylum in his new home.

Basketball career

The 2.13 m tall Mbenga initially played for smaller Belgian clubs. In the 2001/02 season he was first in the squad of the second division Spirou Gilly, reserve team of the Belgian first division Spirou BC from Charleroi . After a season with the first division club from Leuven , he moved back to Spirou and won the Belgian championship again with the defending champion in the 2003/04 season. He was then committed in 2004 by the Dallas Mavericks from the NBA. On the side of Dirk Nowitzki he mostly played the backup for the starting center Erick Dampier and reached the NBA final in the 2005/06 season , in which he lost 4-2 to the Miami Heat with the Mavericks .

Mbenga joined the Golden State Warriors from California in the 2007/08 season . On January 6, 2008 he was released by the Warriors. On January 21, he was signed to a ten-day contract by the Los Angeles Lakers . After a second ten-day contract, he signed on February 11 for the remainder of the current season with the Lakers. After the 2007/08 NBA season, the Lakers extended Mbenga's contract for one year. At the Lakers he also reached the finals in the 2008 playoffs, but where they failed 4-2 at the Boston Celtics . After two unsuccessful series of finals, Mbenga won the championship title with the Lakers in the playoffs of 2009 when the team defeated the Orlando Magic 4-1 in the final. In 2010 he was able to win the title with the Lakers, this time they won the final against the Celtics 4: 3.

For the 2010/11 season Mbenga signed a contract with the Hornets from New Orleans , with whom he was eliminated in the first play-off round in 2011 against his former club Lakers. At all of his previous clubs in the NBA, Mbenga has so far acted as a supplementary player with no more than eight minutes of playing time and just under two points per game. In the 2011/12 NBA, which was shortened due to the lockout , he remained without a contract. After the season preparation for the following season with his former club Dallas Mavericks, in whose season he was not taken over, Mbenga moved to the Chinese Basketball Association to the DoubleStar Eagles from Qingdao . Here, however, he only played a few games before they separated again in December 2012. In March 2013 Mbenga moved to the Philippine Basketball Association for the Barako Bulls.

Web links

• Didier Ilunga-Mbenga - player profile on NBA.com
• archive.fiba.com: Players - Ilunga MBENGA (BEL) - Overview of participation in FIBA tournaments

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Preetom Bhattacharya: Mbenga Provides Some Perspective. Hoopsworld.com, March 10, 2008, accessed April 4, 2013 . 
2. ^ Didier Ilunga-Mbenga NBA & ABA Statistics. Basketball-reference.com, accessed August 2, 2011 (English, NBA statistics).