MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami Heat forward Chris Silva got the surprise of a lifetime Friday evening.

Silva, 23, who left his home country of Gabon, in Africa in 2012, had only seen his mom only once in the past several years.

On Friday, Chris’s mom, Carine surprised his son to tears just hours before tipoff in front of his coach and teammates at the American Airlines Arena.

It was a reunion three years in the making and a moving one for mom, son, Heat players, and everyone in attendance.

Chris had been in the middle of a center court meeting with the team when all of a sudden, his mom walked in on them. Chris could not contain his tears and both mom and son locked in an emotional embrace.

It’s been 3 years since @SilvaObame has seen his mother. Tonight they reunited and it was everything you could imagine and more. Thanks to @NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Sr. VP of Int Basketball Operations Kimberly Bohuny with the support of @NBA_Africa for making it happen. pic.twitter.com/aIFvIpgd3x — Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) December 28, 2019

Everyone who was there was visibly moved by the reunion.

The commissioner’s office and ‘NBA Africa’ helped reunite mother and son.

Later, Carine got a chance to see her son’s team beat the Indiana Pacers by score of 113-112 at the arena.

After the game, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said during the post-game press conference that the touching reunion would be something he would not soon forget.