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Moussa Diabat\u00e9 has the drive and defensive commitment to earn lofty comparisons.<\/p>\n
Moussa Diabat\u00e9 is built for this life.<\/p>\n
He has a motor that could rack up 500 miles at Daytona, add 500 more in Indy and keep on ticking through 24 Hours of Le Mans. At 6-foot-10 and 210 sinewy pounds, the Charlotte Hornets\u2019 24-year-old center is all angles and elbows.<\/p>\n
He has been an essential contributor to the Hornets\u2019 nine-game winning streak on the line Monday night when Detroit, sitting atop the Eastern Conference, plays at Spectrum Center (7 p.m. ET, League Pass<\/a>). And the way he has been playing has drawn comparisons to two of the NBA\u2019s all-time high priests of trench warfare: Dennis Rodman<\/a> and Ben Wallace<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not from hyperbolic media folks, mind you, but from Hornets coach Charles Lee.<\/p>\n \u201cThe parallels I see are in the tenacity,\u201d Lee told NBA.com Friday. \u201cThe hunger to try to impact the game on every possession. He just wears people out with his energy, with his effort, with his physicality, with his competitiveness.<\/p>\n \u201cHe helps our team get a stop or get another possession, and you sometimes can see the other team kind of hang their heads. Their body language changes. One teammate looks at the other teammate for letting Moussa get the rebound. It creates dissension. His impact only becomes a \u2018wow\u2019 thing for us, it can be a spirit crusher for the other team.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodman and Wallace, of course, parlayed their energy and grit all the way to Springfield, Massachusetts. They rank as two of the lowest-scoring NBA enshrinees in Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame history. But as defenders, rebounders, hustle players and, respectively, an irritant and an intimidator, few who played reached their levels.<\/p>\n Said Diabat\u00e9: \u201cIt\u2019s always a blessing to have your coach comparing you to the greats. I\u2019ve got to keep doing what I\u2019ve got to do and live with, and see, the results.\u201d<\/p>\n The results have been spectacular lately. In Charlotte\u2019s latest victory, 126-119 at Atlanta on Saturday<\/a>, Diabat\u00e9 had 11 points and 15 rebounds, his 14th double-double this season. Four have come during the current winning streak. He has grabbed five or more offensive rebounds 18 times.<\/p>\n Diabat\u00e9, averaging 8.4 points and 8.7 rebounds, ranks second among the Hornets in plus\/minus and 39th in the league (+178), including his +124 during the streak. He is 17th in the NBA in on\/off point differential (+13).<\/p>\n That kind of effort is helping fuel the team\u2019s torrid play (14-6 in 2026). Charlotte is 15-1 when Diabat\u00e9, Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges and Kon Knueppel all start. That unit has the top point differential \u2014 +33.8 \u2014 among five-man lineups in the league, per Cleaning The Glass (min. 150 possessions).<\/p>\n Hornets\u2019 improvement is clear<\/p>\n David Fizdale and Cuttino Mobley break down the Hornets’ win streak.<\/p>\n At 25-28 \u2013 SoFi Play-In Tournament-worthy \u2013 the Hornets already have won more than they did last season (19-63).<\/p>\n \u201cCompared to last year, we didn\u2019t have this identity,\u201d Diabat\u00e9 told NBA.com. \u201cWe went into the summer saying we want to play fast, we want to do other things. We kept building up and through this year, everybody can see we\u2019re getting better. That\u2019s what it\u2019s come down to \u2013 playing the way we preached. Playing fast, playing physical, talking more. And using each other\u2019s best abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Led by Knueppel, a Kia Rookie of the Year candidate<\/a> chasing Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg, Charlotte\u2019s youth infusion<\/a> (with fellow rookies Ryan Kalkbrenner, Sion James and Liam McNeeley) has solidified rotation holes. Holdovers Ball, Bridges and Miller all are averaging between 18 and 20 points per game while combining for about 48 shots.<\/p>\n Only two teams have made more than the Hornets\u2019 810 3-pointers, and only five have shot them better than Charlotte\u2019s 37.2% mark. Charlotte also ranks fifth in offensive rebound percentage and second defensively, two areas where Diabat\u00e9\u2019s impact is felt most.<\/p>\n \u201cMy ability to grab an offensive rebound, I can get us extra possessions,\u201d said Diabat\u00e9, who averages 3.7 per game (Kalkbrenner grabs another 2.4). \u201cOr even just running the floor. Most bigs are not as accustomed to that.\u201d<\/p>\n In a league with plenty of \u201cstretch 5\u201d centers and others throwing long, broad shadows in the paint, Diabat\u00e9 is neither. But he is 6-foot-10 and the next Red Bull he needs will be his first.<\/p>\n That\u2019s part of the connection with Rodman and Wallace. Rodman was a 6-foot-7 forward and third-round pick out of Southeastern Oklahoma State who pestered his way to seven rebounding titles and eight All-Defensive selections. Wallace went undrafted out of Virginia Union who thrived as an undersized 6-foot-9 center, being named NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times and All-Defensive berths six times.<\/p>\n Diabat\u00e9, by comparison, came from a pedigreed basketball background. Born in Paris, he played for club teams before moving to the U.S. at age 14, still grappling with his English. He attended three schools in Florida, with his final two years at IMG Academy in Bradenton.<\/p>\n He was a McDonald\u2019s All-American as a senior, drawing interest from Kentucky, Arizona and Memphis before spending the 2021-22 season at Michigan. He submitted for the Draft after averaging 9.0 points and 6.0 rebounds, and was selected by the LA Clippers at No.43<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018My motor is what brings everything else\u2019 Charlotte center Moussa Diabat\u00e9 has developed a knack for not backing down from any size of challenge.<\/p>\n Diabat\u00e9 spent his first two seasons as a two-way player, splitting time in the NBA G League while making 33 appearances with the Clippers.<\/p>\n In July 2024, he signed a two-day deal with Charlotte. He was averaging 4.7 points and 7.1 rebounds in 42 games when Hornets management converted him to a standard contract. Exactly one year ago, in fact, on Feb. 8, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cI give our front office a ton of credit for identifying him from the G League and the Clippers,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThey brought him in during the summer, and we watched him work out, helped him to simplify things.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee was at a wedding in San Francisco one weekend that summer when Diabat\u00e9 called him excitedly, after a routine workout.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wanted to know, \u2018How can I be successful on a two-way contract?\u2019\u201d the coach said. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee and his staff shuffled through 27 players and five centers last season, with only Diabat\u00e9 among the bigs appearing in more than 44 games. He played 71, logging 1,241 minutes \u2013 nearly five times what he got from the Clippers in 2023-24.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you really come down to it, it\u2019s about getting reps here,\u201d Diabat\u00e9 said. \u201cThe NBA is so big on getting experience. With the Clippers, it was a great organization, but I didn\u2019t get reps. There was never a chance to actually showcase my game. Opportunities mean a better chance to prove and show what you have.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no question, with this guy, that it\u2019s what\u2019s under the hood, revving hard possession by possession.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s 99% of what I do,\u201d he said. \u201cMy motor is what brings everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Lee: \u201cIt\u2019s his motor, but it\u2019s an unselfishness as well. It feels like he doesn\u2019t care about that. He\u2019s willing to do all the dirty work, whether it be a physical screen or \u2013 even if he doesn\u2019t get the rebound \u2013 by him going he knows he\u2019s forcing two or three guys to try to keep him off the glass. That might equal an offensive rebound for another player on our team.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many things where his competitive spirit is so unselfish, our guys end up loving him for it.\u201d<\/p>\n * * *
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n