Serge Ibaka

Lore & Background

Ibaka was born in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo on 18 September 1989 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. Ibaka 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. Ibaka's father organized for the family to flee the country prior to the war, but ended up as a political prisoner upon their return.

Reader's Guide

After playing for the Avenir du Rail senior team, Ibaka later joined rival club Inter Club junior team. With Inter's senior team, Ibaka played in the 2006 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup. 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 age 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%. In 2008, Ibaka entered several international showcases, picking up an MVP award at the Reebok Eurocamp and the attention of NBA scouts. 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 agreed to keep Ibaka in Europe. He then signed a three-year contract with Ricoh Manresa from the ACB League in Spain. In the ACB, Ibaka averaged 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks 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.

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. In the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers, Ibaka played in six games, averaging 25.5 minutes, 7.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. His seven blocks during Game 2 were a record, and Ibaka became the youngest player to have seven blocks in a playoff game.

On 19 February 2011, Ibaka participated in the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. During the 2011 NBA lockout, Ibaka signed a two-month contract with Real Madrid in Spain alongside Rudy Fernández. Over six games in the EuroLeague, he averaged 5.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 15 minutes per game. After the lockout, Ibaka returned to the NBA.

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