The NBA star had vowed to bankroll Zaire's women's basketball team if it could qualify for the Olympic Games, but he had no idea of all that would entail. Basketball's most basic necessities remain luxury items in the heart of Africa. I just couldn't believe it. I said, 'No. In NBA, I changed 120 pair a year.
Zaire is a nation abundant in natural resources and strapped for athletic equipment.
He paid the entire team's airfare to Atlanta, and provided its outfits for the Opening Ceremony. What he should have done, in retrospect, was round up some ringers. Unaccustomed to up-tempo basketball, and reluctant to pass the ball in search of better shots, the Zairian women have lost all three of their games in the Olympic tournament, by a total of 122 points. They were thumped Thursday by Tara VanDerveer's relentless Americans, 107-47, before a Georgia Dome crowd of 31,230, the largest ever to see a women's basketball game. It was like a rock was tied to their heads, so they could not get up any more.