Khalifa Ababacar Diop (born 15 January 2002) is a Senegalese professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for Baskonia of the Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

and the EuroLeague. He also plays for the Senegalese national team. Diop was drafted 39th overall by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

in the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

Early career

Diop trained with the junior teams of

CB Gran Canaria Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria – Claret, S.A.D., is a professional basketball club based in Las Palmas, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Gran Canaria Arena. From 2012 until 2021, they have been sponsored by Herbalif ...

and CB TerrAlfas. In 2018, he was named the MVP of the national junior club championship. He debuted with Gran Canaria B in the

Liga EBA Liga Española de Baloncesto Aficionado (EBA), commonly known as Liga EBA, is a Spanish basketball championship that is the fourth tier level in the Spanish basketball league system, after the Liga ACB, LEB Oro, and LEB Plata. It is administered ...

, the Spanish fourth level league, at age 15. On 3 November 2019, Diop recorded 25 points and a league record 28 rebounds in a Liga EBA game against Novum Energy Lyceum.

Professional career

Gran Canaria (2017–2023)

On 28 March 2019, Diop made his senior debut for

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...

, recording three points and four rebounds in a 90–55 loss to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

in the EuroLeague. On 24 November 2019, he made his

debut, playing three minutes in a loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. Diop was named

EuroCup Rising Star The EuroCup Basketball Rising Star is an annual award of EuroCup Basketball, which is the secondary level European-wide professional club basketball league, that is given to the player that EuroCup Basketball deems its "top rising star". The E ...

and made the ACB All-Young Players Team for the 2021–22 season. After declaring for the

, Diop was drafted 39th overall by the

. Cavaliers GM

Koby Altman Koby Altman (born September 16, 1982) is the President of Basketball Operations of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Altman was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Altman received his bachelor's degree at ...

announced a few days later that Diop would not join the Cavaliers roster in the

2022-23 NBA season The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

, and would stay in the Spanish League. Diop later signed a contract extension with Gran Canaria.

Baskonia (2023–present)

On July 14, 2023, Diop signed a multi-year contract with EuroLeague mainstays Baskonia.

National team career

Diop represented

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

. He averaged 13.1 points, seven rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Diop helped Senegal win the silver medal at the 2020

FIBA U18 African Championship The FIBA U18 African Championship is an under-18 basketball championship in the International Basketball Federation's FIBA Africa zone. The tournament is held biennially. The top two teams qualify directly to the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World ...

in Egypt, where he averaged 12.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.4 steals per game. At the

2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup The 2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Latvian: 2021. gada FIBA Pasaules kauss basketbolā līdz 19 gadu vecumam) was the 15th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship ...

in Latvia, he averaged 14 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. In February 2022, Diop was selected for the Senegal senior national team for the qualifiers of the

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be ...

References

External links

Khalifa Diop International Stats
at Basketball-Reference.com Living people 2002 births CB Gran Canaria players Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Liga ACB players Saski Baskonia players Senegalese expatriate basketball people in Spain Senegalese men's basketball players {{Spain-basketball-bio-stub