RealGM

Lots of NBA free agents were signing lucrative contracts last week. None may appreciate each dollar more than Bismack Biyombo.

When Biyombo learned to play basketball growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he didn’t have basketball shoes. He walked 45 minutes to attend school. And once he arrived, there were many days when he went without a meal.

With a new four-year, $70 million contract with the Orlando Magic, the 23-year-old forward-center plans to continue donating money to build schools and help his homeland in other ways.

“Yes, it was tough. I am really happy that it was tough,” Biyombo told The Undefeated. “Without it being tough, without me leaving my family at 16 and going to Yemen and going to Spain before I was able to accomplish my dream, I never would have learned the lesson of life. I never would have learned the lesson of giving back and how to reach out to the community.

“It has made me thankful. I could sit here and think of all the worst things that I went through. But they weren’t the worst just to be the worst, they were the worst to teach me a lesson.”

Bismack Biyombo Sumba was born in Lubumbashi, a copper mining city of about 1.5 million people. It is also where Biyombo’s parents struggled to find work, he said.

The bare necessities were barely there for Biyombo as a child.

“I never wore a pair of shoes that really fit me,” he said. “I wore dress shoes because I didn’t have basketball shoes. I played basketball with no shoes. I would walk 45 minutes to an hour every morning to school.

“When kids had their meal at school, I wouldn’t have a meal because I couldn’t afford it. Sometimes I would eat just once a day because my parents couldn’t afford food.”

Biyombo’s dream for a better life came true through basketball, but the road was at times nightmarish.

Skin wrote:You can't put a price tag on this kind of hunger. As long as we have Biymobo... Ibaka is going nowhere. Congolese Pride!

Nyce_1 wrote:Best part of the article was Higgins saying Biyombo finally stopped trying to be Hakeem and just started to play to his strengths in Toronto; rebounding and blocking.

Good read.

MagicStarwipe wrote:Can people stop saying he was signed because of one good playoff series? He was very good for Toronto all season long.

nymets1 wrote:I have one concern about Biyombo and Ibaka but this can be cured if our record is over 500 and especially make the playoffs. And that is Biyombo and Ibaka were playing on playoff teams. As we all know OKC and the Raptors have 2 of the top 3 best homecourt advantages in the NBA along with the Warriors so Ibaka and Biyombo really feeded off their OKC and Raptors fans. They didn't play as well on the road as they did on their homecourt. But I do think both guys sensed chemistry issues when they were on those teams. So our guys have to get together, get to know each other, starting playing together and build cohesiveness, chemistry, etc. Both players will probably have pressure on them because we view getting them as saviors. Just a little pressure, At least they are not playing in New York, Chicago or Philly. I still feel we'll make the playoffs and get a top 4 seed in the playoffs.

Nyce_1 wrote:Best part of the article was Higgins saying Biyombo finally stopped trying to be Hakeem and just started to play to his strengths in Toronto; rebounding and blocking.

Good read.