Moussa Diabate has a simple formula for how he got here: keep working, keep arriving, and let the rest sort itself out.
That mindset, he said on a recent podcast, was reinforced by Taj Gibson, the veteran big man who spent one season in Charlotte. Gibson played 37 games for the Hornets, averaged 11.1 minutes, and was 39 years old in his 16th NBA season. Diabate brought him up as the kind of voice that stuck.
“That's something that Taj (Gibson) kept on telling me: 'Keep on showing up,'” Diabate said.
He expanded on that idea in the same conversation.
“There's no such thing as right timing,” Diabate continued. “You don't know exactly when it's going to happen, but if you keep on showing up, one of them days it's going to happen. So it's like, you've got to keep showing up and give everything you have and just leave it to God after that.”
For Diabate, that message lined up with the way his first season in Charlotte unfolded. The Hornets signed him to a two-way deal in July 2024 after the Clippers had made him the 43rd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft out of Michigan. He had appeared in 33 games over two years in Los Angeles before arriving in Charlotte.
His first Hornets season was a steady climb. Diabate played 71 games, made eight starts, and averaged 17.5 minutes, 5.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists while Charlotte finished 19-63.
Last season, though, was the breakthrough. Diabate opened it behind Ryan Kalkbrenner, the 34th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but by the end he had career highs across the board: 73 games, 47 starts, and 26.0 minutes per night. He averaged 7.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.8 steals, while shooting 63.1% from the field and 65.9% from the free-throw line, both career bests.
His work on the glass stood out in a big way. Diabate’s 3.7 offensive rebounds per game ranked fifth in the NBA.
That production helped earn him the league’s Hustle Award in April. The honor is based on a statistical formula, not votes from media, players, or executives.
Among qualified players, Diabate ranked first per minute in offensive box outs, fourth in screen assists, eighth in offensive loose balls recovered, 10th in contested two-point shots, and 11th in defensive box outs. Dyson Daniels finished second, and Draymond Green was third.
Charlotte’s season ended just short of a playoff berth. The Hornets went 44-38 and finished ninth in the Eastern Conference.
They beat the Miami Heat in overtime in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game, giving the franchise its first postseason win since 2016.
Orlando won the next game, and Charlotte missed the playoffs by one game.
Diabate was rewarded in February 2025 with a three-year, $5.69 million contract.
The roster around him has changed a lot since then. From June 25 through Aug.
14, Charlotte traded LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, first-round swaps in 2028, 2029, and 2030, and second-round picks in 2029, 2032, and 2033. That deal was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The Hornets also sent Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, and moved Tre Mann to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Dennis Schroder. They re-signed Coby White, added Dorian Finney-Smith from the Houston Rockets, and drafted Hannes Steinbach 14th and Christian Anderson 18th.
Gibson, meanwhile, is gone from Charlotte and now with Memphis. He signed a two-year deal with the Grizzlies in February 2026, entering his 17th NBA season. He has played in more than 1,000 regular-season games, and his minimum salary for 2026-27 is non-guaranteed, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
The Hornets will open the season Oct. 21 at Brooklyn, then play their home opener Oct. 23 against Atlanta at Spectrum Center. Charlotte has six games scheduled for national television, beginning Jan. 19 at Dallas.
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What makes the move even more interesting is the role Charlotte appears ready to hand him by the 2026-27 season. Reid is positioned to slide into the starting power forward spot, a major shift for a player who spent so much of his rise as a reserve, and his fit will matter not just for his own production but for how the Hornets balance spacing, size and development across the rest of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
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Miller appeared in 65 games last season and has already shared his thoughts on the teams work ethic heading into the new year, but the bigger question remains his timeline. He has not yet been cleared for basketball activities, and there is still no firm sense of when that will change, which leaves a real layer of uncertainty around his return. [Read more 🡒]