Serge Ibaka

Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila (/ˈsɜːrdʒ iːˈbækə/; born 18 September 1989) is a Congolese-Spanish professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ibaka was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder\'s former incarnation, 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 plays for the Spanish national basketball team in international competition.\n', ' Ibaka was born in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, and is the third-youngest of 18 children. Both his mother and his father were basketball players. His father played at the Republic of Congo and with the Congolese national team, and his mother played for the Democratic Republic of 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.\n', ' 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 second division basketball club CB L\'Hospitalet. He averaged 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds and shot 55%. 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".\n', '