Serge Ibaka: "Sport taught me to be patient, to develop my leadership, and to pass things on."

Last January, you caused a sensation at the Kid Super show in Paris. In September 2025, you were at New York Fashion Week. At what point does a basketball player decide that runways are part of his playing field?
Russell Westbrook and I were the first NBA athletes to come to Paris Fashion Week. I come from Congo, where there's this culture of being well dressed and having good style. Then I went to live in the United States, in New York, and I played on the same team as Russell, who also loves fashion. Fashion has also taken up more and more space in the NBA these days, and since I've always had this appetite for it, I'm more and more present in that world.

You said: "I don't just get dressed, I make art. It's a different game." What's the concrete difference between someone who dresses well and someone who makes art?
It's a mindset. Everything starts there. Your mindset defines you. I'm interested in fashion because I love art above all. In the way I dress, I feel good and aligned, it's about the details and how the clothes I wear fit who I am. Part of me has that artist's soul too, because I make music, I have a cooking show, and I have an online fashion show project coming up on YouTube…

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"My cooking show, music, and fashion… I've always been active off the basketball court."

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You released your first collection with Nobis: parkas, bombers… Was launching this way a dream of yours?
Yes, it's always been a dream to launch this kind of project, and I'd like to do more of it in the future. When the opportunity came up to collaborate with Nobis, it was the perfect moment to make it happen. It's a chance to showcase my vision, my ideas, and everything I wanted to highlight through this project.

"The first NBA players to go to fashion week were me and Russell Westbrook." Did you mean that you were the only ones who weren't afraid of how people would see you by leaning further into fashion?
Everyone has their own vision of fashion. But for me, it goes beyond that, there's also this idea of self-confidence at play, depending on how you wear a piece of clothing or how you carry yourself… In the end, everything is fashion. Russell is American, we came up and grew together, he's like a brother. He's always well-dressed because he loves it! As I said, I'm Congolese. Congolese people are number one in fashion, no doubt about it! Being well dressed is really part of our family culture, following the example of our fathers, our uncles… So really, this opportunity made sense to me, I thought: "Why not!"

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"Thank God, basketball saved me."

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In 2019, you became an NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors. Did that title change anything on the court, but also off it?
No, because I was already doing just as much before: cooking with my show, music… I've always been active off the basketball court. Likewise, I was doing just as much before coming to Paris for fashion week.

You left Congo as a kid, during the war, with almost nothing. Did basketball save you, or did you save yourself through basketball?
Thank God, basketball saved me. It's God who gave me this body and this talent, He protected me, even in my mother's womb, through all those years, to get me where I am and pull through with basketball.

The night before a game, you close your eyes and visualize what you'll wear the next day: the colors, the fabrics, how it will fall… Is that a form of mental preparation?
One day, someone on my team told me: "Everything you take care of off the court shows up on the court." And it's true that when you take care of yourself and your appearance, it helps you feel good with yourself day to day. That energy matters. Before every game, I want to feel good. Some days it was hard. Sometimes there are six or eight months of competition in a row… You have to keep going, so being in tune with myself really helped me keep the pace.

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"I'd like to be inspiring and give young people opportunities through my Foundation."

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Has sport taught you something that fashion can't, and vice versa?
Sport taught me to be patient, to develop my leadership, and to pass things on. It's a team sport. You work for yourself and for others. At first, when you come into the sport, you're young, you want to break through, so you only think about yourself. As you get older, and as the new generation comes up, you communicate more, you help. You learn to sacrifice for your team to win. Fashion taught me to develop my artistic and creative language. You learn to take care of yourself, your skin, how to speak, how to present yourself, and also how to respect yourself.

In 2019, you went back to Congo with the NBA trophy to tell kids that "anything is possible." Is that still the message you want to pass on to the new generation today?
Yes, always. In Africa, when I was a kid, there was no social media. People told us we were wasting our time if we wanted to go to the NBA, or that we needed to go see marabouts. That's false! That's not what sport is about. I brought the trophy so all those kids could touch it and dream of that. I never had that opportunity myself. You can make it even if your parents weren't born in France or America, and even if you don't have many resources.

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"In fashion, you shouldn't overdo it, especially if the piece or the brand doesn't match who you are."

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In 20 years, when people talk about Serge Ibaka, what do you want them to say about you?
I'd like to be inspiring and give young people opportunities through my Foundation, the Serge Ibaka Foundation. We have basketball academies in Africa, in Senegal and Mali. We're going to try to open one in Congo. We run basketball camps there every year. Dozens of young people, not all of them, of course, have come out of these academies and had the opportunity to play in Europe, for example. That's really the kind of message and legacy I'd like to leave behind.

What should you avoid in sport? And in fashion?
In sport, you have to avoid being surrounded by the wrong people. If you have talent but your circle isn't good, it doesn't work. Thank God, I was well surrounded. As for fashion, you have to avoid things that don't suit you well, even if they're expensive… You shouldn't overdo it, especially if the piece or the brand doesn't match who you are.

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All information about the Serge Ibaka Foundation.