DJ Mbenga's Improbable Journey From Prison To NBA Champion

Support by buying my NBA T-Shirts: https://heatcheck.info/

DJ Mbenga is one of the more memorable faces from those Lakers championship teams- despite getting just around 4 minutes on the court and averaging around a point per game.
He was a fan favorite and even one of Kobe’s favorite teammates.
But his journey to the NBA has a dark history, in which he was in prison for 9 months and actually escaped, to ultimately become a free man, an NBA champion and a celebrity in basketball circles. Sit back as we go through his story. Let’s get into it.
DJ Mbenga was born and lived in the Congo for 17 years while his father worked for the Government. When the new regime came, they hunted down everyone who worked for the previous leaders including the father of Mbenga.
When the war between two of the native tribes broke out, DJ was falsely accused and was put in prison. With an execution pending, Mbenga needed to escape.
In 1999, after being in prison for nine months, his brother bribed a security guard and he managed to escape.
With the first plane out of the Congo Mbenga arrived in Belgium, where he was given political asylum. While staying in an asylum center with his mom he found his new love, basketball.
At 19 years old, this was the first time that DJ interacted with this sport.
He quickly improved however and got a spot on a Belgium basketball team.
DJ then started catching the attention of NBA scouts with his size, athleticism, and shot-blocking ability and was invited to the NBA pre-draft camp in 2004.
The Dallas Mavericks were intrigued by Mbenga's potential and offered him a spot on their roster.
Despite not being the most talented, DJ was very popular in Dallas.
He actually appeared in another finals before coming to LA.
Against the Heat in 06, Mbenga got some minutes as the Mavs used him, and his 6 fouls to try and slow down Shaq. But that’s easier said than done of course. Miami wins the championship, and the following season after a brief stint in Golden State, Mbenga joins the Lakers.
This is when all the fun starts. The Lakers were destroying teams so DJ sometimes saw much more playing time in blowouts.
In a game against Minnesota in 09, he got 17 minutes of action and jumped on that opportunity scoring 10 points along with 5 blocks. Just watch him defending the rim as if he’s Bill Russell. And of course Kobe absolutely loved it. This was Mbenga’s best game of the season.
Speaking of the mamba, in an interview Kobe raved about how great of a teammate Mbenga is, and told everyone why he calls him Congo Cash.
Iiiii don’t know how great of a scorer a 1 point per game guy can be, but it’s great to see Kobe supporting and praising DJ.
There is also this moment where Bryant pokes some fun at his teammate, comparing him to Sloth from the 1985 classic movie The Goonies.
That year the Lakers won the title defeating Orlando in the finals. And while everyone focused on how much it meant to Kobe winning one without Shaq, this was possibly just as meaningful for Mbenga if not more. As he completed the journey from escaping prison and his country, starting a new life, and ultimately reaching the highest heights.
Despite appearing in only 7 games and making only 1 field goal in the playoffs- nobody could take this from him.
The following season, DJ played the game of his career against the Hornets posting up a double double of 10 PTS and 12 boards along with 4 blocks.
Look at his post game on the back down, the spin, going up in traffic and putting it in.
And right here DJ fires away the sweet jumper and swishes it, as the bench goes crazy and even the cheerleaders are impressed.
This was his first and only double double in his career.
A few months later, his career high in scoring came, with 11 PTS in a game against the Timberwolves.
In the back to back title run however, Mbenga dressed up for just 3 games that postseason scoring a total of 5 points.
A 2 time NBA champion by 2010, he then signed with the Hornets- in what turned out to be his last season in the league. With a similar production, DJ finished off his NBA career.
Mbenga's improbable journey from Congo to the NBA is a story of triumph over adversity. Although he rarely even got a chance to play, fans- especially of the Lakers definitely remember him fondly.
Let me know in the comments who’s another obscure NBA player that you’d wanna see a video about. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.