Dikembe Mutombo, a basketball Hall of Famer who was one of the best defensive players in NBA history and a longtime global ambassador for the game, died Monday after a battle with brain cancer, the league announced. He was 58.

His family revealed two years ago that he was undergoing treatment in Atlanta for a brain tumor. The NBA said he died surrounded by his family.

“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

Mutombo spent 18 seasons in the NBA, playing for Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and the then-New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-2 center out of Georgetown was an eight-time All-Star, four-time defensive player of the year, three-time All-NBA selection and went into the Hall of Fame in 2015 after averaging 9.8 points and 10.3 rebounds for his career.

Mutombo last played during the 2008-09 season, devoting his time after retirement to charitable and humanitarian causes. He spoke nine languages and founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997, concentrating on improving health, education and quality of life for the people in the Congo. Mutombo served on the boards Special Olympics International, the CDC Foundation and National Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

Giants hire Posey, fire Zaidi as president

The San Francisco Giants have hired former catcher Buster Posey as president of baseball operations and fired Farhan Zaidi.

Chairman Greg Johnson made the announcement Monday after the Giants finished 80-82 in manager Bob Melvin’s first season — with one more victory than in 2023. San Francisco hasn’t reached the playoffs since winning the NL West in 2021.

The 37-year-old Posey joined the club’s ownership group in September 2022, less than a year after his retirement in November 2021.

“As we look ahead, I’m excited to share that Buster Posey will now take on a greater role as the new president of baseball operations,” Johnson said in a statement. “We are looking for someone who can define, direct and lead this franchise’s baseball philosophy and we feel that Buster is the perfect fit. Buster has the demeanor, intelligence and drive to do this job, and we are confident that he and Bob Melvin will work together to bring back winning baseball to San Francisco.”

Posey was a seven-time All-Star with a career .302 batting average. He was San Francisco’s fifth overall draft pick in rhe 2008 amateur draft out of Florida State.

He and wife Kristen moved their family back to the East Bay suburb of Lafayette last year after a stint living in their native Georgia immediately following his retirement. He called it a career after the Giants’ franchise-record 107-win season in 2021. He opted out of the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

Zaidi was hired away from the rival Dodgers in November 2018.

Chiefs lose WR Rice to severe knee injury

The Kansas City Chiefs keep winning close games.

They also keep losing important players.

The Chiefs’ latest escape job came Sunday in Los Angeles, when they weathered more first-half problems t o rally for a 17-10 win over the Chargers.

But it came at the expense of budding star Rashee Rice, a wide receiver who sustained a severe knee injury when he was hit by Patrick Mahomes while making a tackle following an interception early in the game.

Two weeks ago, Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco fractured his fibula just before Harrison Butker kicked the field goal that gave them a 26-25 win over Cincinnati. And when the injuries to Rice and Pacheco are added to the potentially season-ending surgery on wide receiver Marquise Brown’s shoulder, the Chiefs are suddenly without three of their biggest offensive stars.

• The Carolina Panthers have lost veteran linebacker Shaq Thompson to another season-ending injury.

The Panthers confirmed that Thompson tore his Achilles tendon in Sunday’s 34-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in a noncontact injury.

“I’m sick for Shaq, a guy that really just cares so much and plays with so much passion,” coach Dave Canales said. “He’s a vocal leader and is somebody who has had my back through this process as I get my feet underneath me as a first-time head coach.”

This is Thompson’s second major injury in the last two seasons. He broke his fibula in Week 2 last season and missed the final 15 games.

Thompson was considered the team’s emotional leader on defense and had 35 tackles this season.

No witness accounts of deadly crash in Zurich

There are no eyewitnesses or television images yet of the crash that led to the death of Swiss rider Muriel Furrer at the road cycling world championships, investigators in Zurich said on Monday.

The 18-year-old Furrer died from her injuries on Friday, one day after crashing on a rain-slicked forest road near Küsnacht, south of Zurich, in the junior women’s race.

Police and the public prosecutor’s office in Zurich jointly said in a statement the exact time Furrer crashed was not yet established.

They said their ongoing investigation showed she crashed on a descent at a slight left-hand bend in the road.

Furrer was discovered unconscious in the forest away from the road by a race safety official, the investigators said. She was later airlifted by helicopter to the hospital.

Investigators said on Monday they had no evidence any other party was involved in the crash or saw it.