NBA star, Bismack Biyombo of the Phoenix Suns has announced that he will use his annual salary of $1.3 million to construct a hospital in his country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While making the announcement, Biyombo revealed that the project was made to honor his departed father, François Biyombo, who died in August 2021.
He said: “While I was trying to figure out how to find something that would motivate me this year … I remember one day, I pick up the phone and called my agent and said the only way I would do it this year was if we find a situation … one, that I fit in and two, that I would play for something.
“I wanted to make this year about my dad, because my dad spent most of his life making his life about me, my brothers and sisters, and servicing people,” he added. “What I told my agent was my salary for this year would be going for the construction of a hospital back home to give hope to the hopeless.
“This is the best way I [think] that this year will be meaningful to me,” he continued. “It’s not just the desire to go for a championship, but also the desire to save lives. And at the end of this season, I really want to be able to look back and say, ‘I dedicated this season to my dad.”
The NBA star said that he hopes the project would bridge the gap created by insufficient medical care in the country as many who live in the DCR are suffering from impoverished conditions.
