The Associated Press is reporting that Dikembe Mutombo is expected to be sworn in as an American citizen on Thursday.

Mutombo, who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be sworn in as an American citizen in Atlanta, where he lives in the off-season.

"It's more joy and more happiness," he told Houston television station KRIV. "My blood is still going to be Congoese. This is where we are going to call home, so it's good to be an American."