Lamine Diane (born November 7, 1997) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who last played for the

Delaware Blue Coats The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware, and are affiliated with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The team was found ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Cal State Northridge Matadors The Cal State Northridge Matadors (branded as the CSUN Matadors) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Northridge in Northridge, Los Angeles, California. The Matadors field 17 teams in nineteen sports. The Matadors ...

. He was named the Big West Player of the Year in both 2019 and 2020.

High school and college career

Diane, the son of Senegal national team player Keletigui Diane, first began playing basketball at the age of nine, though he was initially more interested in soccer. He came to the United States in 2015 to play high school basketball at

Findlay Prep Findlay Prep is a former high school basketball program located in Henderson, Nevada. The program was created in 2006 by local businessman Cliff Findlay, who owns several car dealerships in the Las Vegas area.Abramson, Mitch"Former Knick Jerome W ...

in Henderson, Nevada. He came into his own in his second season as he tripled his scoring average from 5 to 16 points per game. He committed to

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest u ...

, redshirting the 2017–18 season to concentrate on academics and to allow a wrist injury to heal. As a redshirt freshman, Diane averaged 24.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game and led the nation in field goals. At the close of the season became the first player in history to win the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

's Player, Freshman and Newcomer of the Year awards in the same year. For his sophomore season, Diane was named to the preseason All-Big West team. However, he was ruled academically ineligible for the first semester by the NCAA. At the close of the regular season, Diane was awarded his second straight conference Player of the Year honor. He averaged 25.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, two blocks and 1.7 steals per game. Following the season Diane declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

Professional career

Delaware Blue Coats (2021–2022)

On December 3, 2020, Diane signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. On December 7, he was waived by the 76ers. He was then added to the roster of the 76ers'

affiliate, the

, making his debut on February 11, 2021 and scoring three points, blocking two shots and pulling down two rebounds. On October 25, he re-signed with Delaware. On February 3, 2022, Diane was ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury.

References

External links

Cal State Northridge Matadors bio

at Sports-Reference.com 1997 births Living people Basketball players from Dakar Cal State Northridge Matadors men's basketball players Delaware Blue Coats players Findlay Prep alumni Power forwards (basketball) Senegalese expatriate basketball people in the United States Senegalese men's basketball players Small forwards {{Senegal-basketball-bio-stub