Serge Ibaka also known as Iblocka, season after season, game after game, performs in accordance with his nickname; this is exhibited by a governing defensive presence aptly described as tyrannical. While dealing with a knee injury that precluded Ibaka from playing in over a third of regular season play, the 6 foot 10’ power forward managed to maintain his propensity dominate defensively while significantly improving in two key areas of his offensive game. He shot a career high 84% from the free throw line, and drained 77 three-pointers- doubling his long-ball stats from last season. Most remarkably, he still averaged 2.42 blocks per game making Ibaka second in blocks per game for the 2014-2015 season – while only playing two-thirds of the regular season games.
Ibaka is expected to fully recover over the offseason. A healthy Ibaka has quite an impressive list of achievements. For starters, Ibaka has been named to the NBA’s All-Defensive First-team from 2011-2014. He led the NBA in blocks for four consecutive seasons – a feat only accomplished by Dikembe Mutombo. In the 2011 season Ibaka became the first NBA player in history to have at least one full block in 26 consecutive games. Just looking at his statistics and the success on his basketball related merits, Serge Ibaka is among the top most desired NBA Sponsors; but Ibaka’s value as a sponsor doesn’t stop with his on court play.
Another positive attribute translating to Ibaka’s value as a sponsor is fact that he’s on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The once upon a time Seattle Supersonics, have a starting five that would qualify as the starting five for the Western Conference All-Star team. For this reason, the Thunder tapped into fan bases not only in Oklahoma and Seattle. First, fans who cheer for a winning team without an attachment to the teams previous or current domicile– a large percentage of NBA fans – and second, NBA fans that follow teams based on their impact on pop culture – i.e. novelty, fashion, music, and social issues. Applying the transitive property, by both aforementioned fan bases having skyrocketed OKC’s volume of followers, Ibaka – as a member of Thunder- has increased his recognition, likability, and marketability value via exposure.
While Serge Ibaka’s performance on the court speaks for itself, the 25 year-old’s arduous ascension to stardom is unfairly outshined by his defensive animosity. Ibaka was born in the Republic of the Congo; an African region plagued with civil war perpetuated by an oppressive, corrupt government. Ibaka’s – while merely an adolescent -- mother died tragically leaving him and 17 siblings. After his mother death, Ibaka’s love for his family and the game of basketball fueled his unbridled passion to play basketball professionally. Once making it to the NBA, Ibaka started charities across seven African countries. Ibaka’s initiative is to increase the presence of organized sports, provide indigent children with an education, provide health necessary screenings, and teach the youth that the integration of broken African Countries is possible via peaceful development. Sponsorship Opportunities for Serge Ibaka are available on www.OpenSponsorship.com.
