Moussa Diabate’s path to becoming a steady piece for the Charlotte Hornets came with an early warning label, and it came from Tom Thibodeau.
Before Diabate even heard his name called in the 2022 NBA Draft, the former New York Knicks head coach saw enough in a workout to deliver a blunt message: the forward/center had real talent, but he was still a work in progress. Thibodeau’s read was that another season at Michigan could have changed Diabate’s draft stock in a big way.
Diabate ended up going 43rd overall after a modest 2021-22 season with Michigan, despite entering college as a consensus five-star recruit in the 2021 class. He chose to leave anyway, and that decision put him on the tougher road Thibodeau warned him about.
“He told me, 'You know if you would have stayed at Michigan you would have been a 1st rounder.' I was like, 'Yeah, maybe, I don't know.'
He was like, 'But you know by making that decision you probably took the hardest path.' When he told me that, it was like, okay, I get it, this is no joke, I really have to take it seriously,” Diabate said on Make it to Midnight about valuable advice he received.
“So when he told me this, it was like, I don't know what's ahead, but it's gonna be hard. I better be ready. Great coach, a lot of experience, so I'm very thankful for that.”
That early reality check fits the arc of Diabate’s career. He had to fight to stick in the league, but he’s now carved out a real role in Charlotte and has been one of the most consistent players on the roster over the past two seasons. For a Hornets team moving into a new era after LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges were traded away, that kind of reliability matters.
Charlotte needed a center to pair with its promising perimeter players, and Diabate has become part of that answer. The Hornets found a player who once had to prove he belonged, and he’s now turned that into a dependable NBA presence.
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Hornets Fans Can Dream On Kevin Durant But The Cost Is Huge
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Of course, the price of dreaming on a player like Durant is never small, and Charlotte would have to decide how far it wants to push its current plan. Hornets president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson has already sounded confident in the roster after the teams recent trades, so any chase for a superstar would have to fit into that larger picture rather than knock it off course. For now, Durant remains where he is, and the question is whether a star of that size is even realistic for a team that still seems to value its new direction. [Read more 🡒]