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At the NBA House pop-up event in Montreal promoting the league final between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, a former champion expressed enthusiasm about the city one day hosting a franchise in basketball’s highest league. Serge Ibaka, a 2019 champion with the Toronto Raptors, Canada’s only NBA franchise, said at La Nesra in Griffintown on Friday that the second largest market in the country “deserves a team.” “The way things are here, it’s a beautiful city. I feel people love sport in general here,” Ibaka said.
Ibaka, of Congolese-Spanish descent, remains a fan favourite in Toronto and would’ve been one in Montreal as a bilingual player. He said playing in a francophone market during his playing days would have been a great experience. Ibaka played 14 years, from 2009-2023, for five teams. “I’m sure it would be amazing to live and play here,” he said.
Anunoby, despite being robbed of an opportunity that some players 15 years his senior never got to experience, remembers that time fondly. He looks back and reflects on all that he learned from his teammates about how to be a pro, how to prepare at the sport’s highest level. The players on that team were so influential on who Anunoby is today that he wanted to list the entire roster, as many as he could recall while put on the spot, to show appreciation for what that experience meant to him as he sat on the sideline and they went to fight on his behalf. “Jeremy Lin was a great teammate,” Anunoby said. “I had Jodie Meeks, Norm Powell, Fred VanVleet, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam and Danny Green. I learned a lot from those guys. I learned so much being out.”
Serge Ibaka: “Best OKC player of all time: Shai or Kevin Durant?” Chet Holmgren: “I’d say probably Shai.” Serge Ibaka: “Shai or Russell Westbrook?” Chet Holmgren: “Uh, Shai.”
Serge Ibaka: Who's the best scorer in the NBA? Chet Holmgren: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Got to go with Shai. Because if you look at it objectively, just think like what makes the best score. You can show him aggressive coverages, he can bend them and still score. You can show him aggressive coverages, he can pass and make others better. He kills you in transition where you can't show him aggressive coverages. He does it efficiently. He gets to the free throw line. Serge Ibaka: Well, he gets to the free throw line, but there's a lot of complaining about it. Holmgren: But that doesn't matter. Scoring if I get to the free throw line and you boo me cuz I'm at the free throw line and I make both, it's still two points, right? So, like don't get mad. Don't get mad at Shai about it. I'm speaking for whoever might be mad about it.
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Serge Ibaka: Who's the best defender in the NBA? Chet Holmgren: I think Cason Wallace is the best defender. Ibaka: Cason Wallace the best defender right now in the NBA? Holmgren: Yeah. Ibaka: Wow. Holmgren: If you're looking for somebody who not only can defend on ball, but off ball in the passing lanes, he can hound you 94 feet. He can get steals, but he can also play solid and just force you to miss a shot.
Kellan Olson: Victor Wembanyama is the first player to have at least 13 blocks across his last two playoff games since Serge Ibaka in 2011, per @Stathead. A pretty short list overall.
Former NBA champion and EuroLeague big man, 36-year-old Serge Ibaka, remains a free agent to begin the 2025–26 season. Despite his free-agent status at this point of the season, Ibaka is staying in shape and is currently practicing with the French third-division team Levallois Metropolitans, awaiting a new opportunity to continue his career.
“He gave the ball to Serge Ibaka. He said, ‘Serge, take one shot.’ Serge took a shot,” Perkins continued. “He threw the ball to me. He said, ‘Perk hold the motherf**ker.’ I held it. He said, ‘Russ, KD, we can’t f**cking win like this. Nobody’s going to want to play with you two guys.’”
Serge Ibaka recently teased a potential return to the NBA, tweeting a black and white picture of himself practicing in an open University of Miami gym with the caption “@nba Comeback.” The 14-year veteran’s most recent NBA action came in the 2022/23 season, when he appeared in 16 regular season games for the Bucks and averaged 4.1 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11.6 minutes per contest.
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Serge Ibaka is in town. He’ll be at Opening Night tomorrow for the Thunder. pic.twitter.com/WpXeNxQqZG
— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) October 20, 2025
"Were you trying to recruit Kawhi to come back during that time? Were you talking to him?" [Serge Ibaka]: "Yeah, man. I don’t like to talk about it, man." [Host]: "Me neither. But it pissed me off." [Serge Ibaka]: "Yeah... Yeah. I, um... I did— I even— I don’t think I even— I didn’t actually try to recruit him because I didn’t believe it. I thought he was going to stay. Yeah, he won. I didn’t believe he was gonna leave, you know? I was like — I didn’t think he was going to leave, actually. We just won the championship. We had a great team. He could take as many off-games as he wanted — the team was still going to win without him. So he got a lot of pressure, you know? Whenever we needed him in a game, he’d be there. And if he had an off-night, he had guys to help him. So I didn’t really think like, 'Ah, Kawhi is going to leave.' I was calm. I was relaxed. I was like, 'We just won. Who does that?'
"How many more championships do you think you guys win if Kawhi stays?" [Serge Ibaka]: "Bro, why are you asking this question? I think... I think at least two. I think about it every day. Ah, Kawhi... Kawhi... Kawhi... Two more. I think two more." [Host]: "You think two more?" [Serge Ibaka]: "Yeah, at least two more. If he didn’t leave — two more. Two more. Two more."
"What do you remember about the Kawhi shot then? Because you’re right under the—" [Serge Ibaka]: "I was like, man, that shot— honestly, the way we ran the play and I saw Joel guarding him... Yeah, he was chasing him. I didn’t believe that shot was going to go in— like, no way. I was like, 'Oh, maybe he’s just going to throw the ball up,' you know? And I was down, ready to go for the offensive rebound. Yeah. I was almost close to tipping the ball. I was like, 'Oh my God.'" [Host]: "Imagine if you did that. You wouldn’t be able to come back to Toronto." [Serge Ibaka]: "No. You can’t ever come back to Toronto. I think I would’ve even retired. I’d have had to retire, you know? If I touched that ball, I’d have to retire— because there’s no way you come back from that." [Host]: "Yeah. No way." [Serge Ibaka]: "When the ball was bouncing, I was ready to go. Ready to tip it off. Because you're always just looking to get the rebound, right? It’s like normal to you. Yeah. I was down— like I was ready to go. It’s normal. Because I feel like if there was a clear miss, I would’ve grabbed the rebound. I was by myself— nobody really wanted to push me. And then the ball kept bouncing. I’m like... okay, good. Thank God I didn’t touch the ball.