2010 World championship was in Turkey. Turkish basketball commentator Murat Murathanoglu’s dream was to bring 4 great players from 4 continents and interview them. The players were; Yao Ming, Oscar Schmidt, Arvydas Sabonis and Hakeem Olajuwon.
First they called Hakeem’s manager and he agreed. But they soon realized that the budget had grown too much, they were working with Rebook and FIBA also opposed this organization and they had to cancel it. He sadly called Hakeem’s manager and told him that the event was canceled and they had no money anymore.
Two hours later, Murat’s phone rang, it was Hakeem’s manager and he told him, “Hakeem wants to come, money isn’t important, just arrange a driver and a car.”
And for the 2010 World Championships, Hakeem came to Turkey for free.
He told this story on their YouTube channel , and I translated it from there. [Source.](https://youtu.be/etGObzYfp40?si=XIBGp6w3JiW784aC&t=684)
by TheBigKaramazov
