From Diallo’s Blueprint to Pope’s Visit: The Story Behind Mo Dioubate’s Journey to Kentucky

The basketball courts in Queens are always busy, but in the summer of 2016, they were home to some of New York City’s most legendary streetball games, thanks in large part to Hamidou Diallo. Fresh off a big summer on the EYBL circuit, a gold-medal run in the FIBA U18 World Cup, and several prestigious basketball camps, Diallo returned home to his neighborhood of LeFrak City as a celebrity, one of the nation’s top recruits with offers from all the blue bloods. 

Wherever Diallo went, he drew a crowd, earning the nickname “King of New York.” At Alimoe Day, he threw down a windmill dunk that prompted fans to storm the court and shut down the game. When he tossed his jersey into the crowd, kids fought over it. At the Unlimited NYC Nike event a few weeks later, he scored 47 points, each dunk punctuated by an “oooooh!” from fans in the bleachers surrounding Kingdome court. Diallo was a rockstar, and when he pulled up to the Lincoln Park Classic in South Ozone Park in Queens, a 12-year-old Mouhamed Dioubate had a front row seat to the show.

“The whole park, it was just flooded,” Dioubate told KSR. “Everyone was waiting for that game. You had a few NBA guys there, and it was a good game. We saw windmills, all kinds of dunks, a lot of trash talking. It was just very high intensity. 

“Once I’d seen that, I’m like, this is the level I want to be at, you know what I’m saying? This is the stage I want to play in.”

To this day, Diallo’s performance at Lincoln Park in 2016 is the craziest thing Dioubate has seen in a New York City streetball game. Little did he know that it would set him down the same path as Diallo, from Queens to Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut, and now, Kentucky. After a detour to Alabama, that last leg came with an assist from the King of New York himself, who played a key role in guiding Dioubate to Lexington.

“I followed him throughout his whole journey,” Diallo told KSR of Dioubate. “Once the opportunity presented itself that Kentucky wanted him, I feel like my time there, and him seeing how the process went with me, pretty much, it was a no-brainer for him.”

Watch the visual component of this profile on the KSR YouTube Channel, which also includes press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

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Mory Dioubate worked tirelessly to bring his family from Africa to America. He came to New York from Guinea, and as he earned more money, he brought Mo’s stepmother, his siblings, and eventually, his mother, Fatimata, to join him. Now, Mo’s extended family of 13 lives in New York or elsewhere in the States, a testament to his father’s determination.

Dioubate loved growing up in Queens. To an outsider, the New York borough may seem rough – and there were hard times – but Dioubate said he “couldn’t ask for anything better as a kid,” spending his days outside in the park, riding bikes with his friends, and playing sports. For him, that was soccer, his “first love.” Dioubate played soccer until he was ten or eleven, attributing some of his trademark toughness and physicality to the beautiful game. 

“People don’t understand: soccer is actually an aggressive sport. Like, if your foot is not strong enough, or if you’re not physical, don’t even try to play it.”

While Mo was playing soccer, his older brother Nankouma was playing basketball. Nankouma was a point guard, one of the best players in their community. Nankouma lived with their father, and Mo with their mother. When Mo moved back in with their father in middle school, he took note of Nankouma’s rise.

“He was one of the main reasons why I started playing basketball or taking this serious,” Mo said. “He was getting all the praise and stuff. I kind of wanted that. Most of my friends who were in Jamaica, Queens, they were all playing basketball. No one was really playing soccer. So, that kind of just made me get into basketball, and I just fell in love with it.”

Dioubate traded his cleats for sneakers. In eighth grade, he joined NYC Finest Basketball Academy, an AAU program run by Rob Diaz, a New York City detective who serves as a mentor to several basketball players in Queens, including Hamidou Diallo. Dioubate was raw, but Diaz saw potential.

“He was kind of long and lengthy,” Diaz said. “It came naturally to him. I thought he could be a kid who could have potential to get better. I didn’t think, at the time – with him or Hami – that they would be at this level, but I certainly gave the time and committed myself to trying to make them the best player and person outside of the court that they could possibly be.”

Dioubate’s love for the game deepened when he saw Diallo, six years his senior, play in Lincoln Park in 2016; for so many kids in his neighborhood, it was a core memory.

“When Mo started off on my AAU team, he was very raw, and like he said, that moment that we played in Lincoln Park, I think it was inspirational for Queens. A whole bunch of stars came out to a little Queens park and pretty much just put on a show for all the young kids that were watching, just showing everybody that this was kind of possible.”

The following January, Diallo committed to Kentucky and enrolled early, redshirting the spring semester. When Diallo finally took the floor for the Cats in the 2017-18 season, he had a huge cheering section back in Queens wearing Kentucky Blue; Dioubate was among them.

“I always kind of liked Kentucky,” Dioubate said. “Kentucky is blue; blue is my favorite color. So right around the time I started watching college basketball, that’s just happened to be the team that I started to watch. And when [Hami] went there, it was just like, no brainer. All my friends, everyone, were Kentucky fans.”

While Diallo reached new heights at Kentucky and in the NBA, Dioubate worked on his game. Like Diallo, he attended John Bowne High School, where Diaz was an assistant coach, before making the move to Putnam Science Academy in 2021. Diaz challenged Dioubate by playing him up an age group; it worked.

“I wanted to be better,” Dioubate said. “I never wanted to settle for less. I always try to be the best I can. I’m a competitive guy. I felt like I was able to compete with those guys who were in varsity. And I feel like, playing JV, at that level wasn’t gonna help me.”

Playing up an age group is how Dioubate became close with Hassan Diarra, another Queens native who played for NYC Finest, Putnam Science Academy, and its corresponding EYBL program, PSA Cardinals. Diarra, who went on to win two national championships at UConn, is three years older than Dioubate. The two teamed up on the outdoor courts during the summer, Diarra routinely dropping 30 points per game and showing Dioubate the ropes of the fiercely competitive park tournament circuit, which NYC legends like Jose Alvarado, Rawle Alkins, Isaiah Washington, and Kareem Reid were known to drop in.

“Lincoln [Park] is one of those places, like, if you don’t bring your game, you’re gonna get exposed; that’s just how it is out there,” Dioubate said. “You’ve got to be able to play defense; you’ve got to be able to score the ball as well. So it’s like, both sides of the game that you have to be good at, and yet no one wants to get exposed. This is New York. There are a lot of cameras, a lot of trash talkers. It just helped you build character from a young age, playing out there.”

In 2019, the summer before Dioubate’s sophomore year of high school, Diallo returned to Queens to host “Hami Day,” a free basketball camp for kids in Queens. Diallo was coming off his rookie season in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder, during which he won the 2019 NBA Slam Dunk Contest for jumping over Shaquille O’Neal en route to the basket. Dioubate got to play in one of the all-star games at Hami Day and stayed around afterwards to help Diallo clean up.

“He just told me, just play through adversity,” Dioubate recalled. “You’ve got to separate yourself from others. You’ve got to sacrifice a lot. It’s a lot of sacrifice. We come from a big city. We’ve got a lot of people behind us. There are a lot of sacrifices you’ve got to take. You’ve got to miss out on some parties or some fun, you know, certain things. You’ve got to stay in the gym, always.”

That mirrored the advice that Dioubate received from Diaz, who warned him he may lose friends along the way.

“At the end of the day, he’s still a young kid, they’re still going to be fragile to all the distractions that come around your neighborhood, especially in New York City,” Diaz said. “He understood…It resonates for Hami to pass along that same message that he heard when he was young.”

Seeing Diallo in the NBA and Diarra thriving at Putnam Science Academy made it that much easier for Dioubate to trust the process.

“Now you have a player that’s been through the same steps that you’ve been through, and pretty much almost mirror the exact same steps from the same mentor to the same high school to the same prep school all the way to now,” Diaz said. “It made it easier for him also to believe in a person that was already there and understand that this formula works.”

Even back then, Dioubate’s calling card was defense; however, his breakthrough moment came on the other end of the court. In one of the park tournaments, Dioubate hit a buzzer-beater layup to win the game. He was the youngest person on his team.

“I remember after that game, all my teammates, they were just hugging me,” Dioubate said, smiling. “That was one of the moments I feel like I got some of their respect.”

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If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, right? Dioubate took that confidence with him to Connecticut, where he spent his final two seasons of high school at Putnam Science Academy, just like Diallo. Dioubate transferred in midway through his junior season, in which PSA went undefeated, winning the prep school national championship. In his senior season, he led them back to the title, averaging 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. 

In his final week of high school basketball, Dioubate was named MVP of the National Tournament, Power 5 Conference Player of the Year, and New England Player of the Year. He also became PSA’s all-time leading rebounder and the fourth player in school history with 1,000 career points. On the EYBL circuit, Dioubate was a first-team selection in 2022 and led the league in inside execution, scoring the most points (309) around the rim.

A top-100, four-star recruit, Dioubate earned offers from several major Division I programs, mostly in the northeast. He chose to take his talents south, to Alabama. It wasn’t quite Kentucky, but with the Crimson Tide, Dioubate reached the Final Four as a freshman and the Elite Eight as a sophomore. In his freshman year, he scored nine of Alabama’s final 15 points in the win over Grand Canyon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a performance made even more impressive by the fact that he was fasting for Ramadan. In the Final Four, he squared off against his old friend Hassan Diarra in the semifinals vs. No. 1 UConn.

“I’ve seen him grow up since he was in seventh grade, so to see him here makes me so happy,” Diarra told reporters on Final Four media day in Phoenix. “I always saw the talent in him. The athleticism has always been there. He’s just becoming a complete player.”

UConn won that game and the title, but Dioubate was just starting to make his mark. As a sophomore, he averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, recording six double-doubles, four against SEC opponents. He won Alabama’s hard hat award, given to the player who made the most blue-collar plays, a team-high 13 times. Dioubate was especially good against Kentucky, scoring 25 points and grabbing 23 rebounds over three games. His biggest impact came on the defensive end, where he held Otega Oweh to just two points on 1-9 shooting in Alabama’s win in Tuscaloosa, snapping Oweh’s 26-game streak of scoring in double digits. 

Dioubate thrived as Alabama’s sixth man, but left that season wanting more. Once the Crimson Tide lost to Duke in the Elite Eight, he talked with Diaz and Diallo. It was time for a change. He entered the transfer portal on April 4, with plenty of suitors lining up.

“I’ve seen the development, I’ve seen the motor, and he just needed some retooling,” Diallo said. “And he’s been doing it. He had great years at Alabama. We felt like he was ready to make a move.”

Kentucky was among the first to reach out, the three losses to Alabama fresh on Mark Pope’s mind. Dioubate has said on many occasions that Kentucky was his dream school growing up; as part of the reason why, Diallo’s heart leapt at the possibility of Dioubate in blue.

“There’s nothing better than Kentucky, from a college standpoint,” Diallo said. “My time there was phenomenal. I was with the great Coach Cal, and the fans, the love, the excitement, and it’s being a professional before you’re a professional, and that excitement and feeling is never going to go anywhere. 

“For Mo, I feel like it’s something that he wanted to experience, playing at that level. I mean, you’re playing for one of the greatest schools of all time there. Every game is sold out, every game matters, and you’re on the biggest stage. So, what better place to prove yourself than on the biggest stage in the world?”

The two sides set up a Zoom. Some of Pope’s recruiting calls have been known to last for hours, but Dioubate’s was shorter, just an hour. In this case, that was a good thing.

“He was straightforward,” Dioubate said of Pope. “Some of the things that he said he needed, I’d seen in their team throughout the year, when we played against them, I’d seen some of the things that they were lacking as well. And the way he approached me, it’s like I was thinking the same thing.”

Both sides knew what Dioubate brings as a defender – the physicality and tenacity Kentucky lacked at times last season, but Dioubate especially liked Pope’s plan for him on offense. Dioubate averaged 7.2 points and 1.1 assists as a sophomore, shooting 61.7% from the field and 46.2% from outside the arc, albeit on just 26 attempts; Pope wants the ball in Dioubate’s hands more often, even as a facilitator.

“I think that going into Kentucky, and the conversations that we had, he saw exactly what he always wanted, is to be utilized more as a point forward,” Diaz said. “And being able to kind of be more creative, because he’s able to. So, we kept that in mind that and I think it’s a perfect connection, I think it’s a perfect mix with how the type of person Mo is and the type of person that Coach [Pope] is.”

Diallo may have played at Kentucky under John Calipari, but he knows the stage and sees Pope’s vision for Dioubate.

“I love his system; it’s a fast-paced system,” Diallo said of Pope. “A lot of guys are involved in the offense, and I feel like it just fits Mo. Mo is a plug-and-fit guy. I feel like any team that he plays on, he brings value, because he’s a guy who I feel like can disrupt the game without needing the ball, without needing offense. He’s just a stat sheet of filler, is what we call it. You’ll look up at halftime and he’ll have stats in every category.”

“He liked the playing style,” Dioubate said of Diallo’s response to Pope’s pitch. “He sees me playing well in the system. He sees the opportunity that I have; that’s something I’ve always wanted. He understood that. He didn’t make my decision for me; he just gave me good advice.”

Dioubate committed to Kentucky on April 7, just three days after entering the portal. 

“It just seemed right, and so there wasn’t much to talk about. I didn’t want to waste any time. I didn’t want to waste any other coaches’ time, and I just wanted to be straightforward. It took about like, two phone calls for me to make my mind up. I just felt like it was the right decision, and I didn’t think twice about it.”

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Further affirmation of Dioubate’s decision came in the weeks after. Because of the frenzied transfer portal recruiting process, Dioubate didn’t take his official visit to Kentucky until after he committed. He brought his father, Mory, along with him. 

“It was incredible to watch him with his dad here,” Mark Pope told Jon Rothstein. “Like, it was really special, actually, to watch him take care of his dad while he was here. So I love every bit of him there. The more I talked to him on the phone, the more I fell in love with this human being. He’s really special that way.”

A few weeks later, Pope made a point to get some face time with the rest of Mo’s family. While in New York with his wife and daughters, Pope called Dioubate and asked if it would be okay if they visited him and his mother.

“It’s amazing,” Dioubate recalled. “I was actually shocked. Like, once he told me that he was coming to my mother’s house, or he asked to come, I was actually shocked because, where I live in New York, my mother, she lives in the Bronx, so, like, it’s not the best neighborhood. So, I didn’t think he was going to come with his wife and kids. I wasn’t expecting that. 

“But once he did that, I was like, wow, he’s a down-to-earth guy. He’s kind of cool, you know, I’m saying?”

The visit was so impromptu that Dioubate’s mother, Fatimata, didn’t have time to prepare any food, but she and his brothers quickly got the house together in anticipation.

“My mom was happy. She was like, ‘He’s really coming?’ She was happy seeing him. My little brothers, they were happy to see him. My whole family was excited to see him.”

They weren’t the only ones. When Dioubate met Pope at the front door of the apartment complex, the security guard was starstruck. 

“He came down and met us, walked in, and security was right there, and the lead security guard was losing his mind,” Pope said on KSR of the visit. “‘Coach Pope! I’m a diehard Kentucky fan!’ You know, the whole thing.”

Back upstairs, Diaz was waiting with the family. Even as someone who has spent many a night around many a kitchen table with players and coaches, he knew this visit was special.

“It was amazing, actually, to be honest,” Diaz said. “One thing that came across to me is how genuine he and his family were, and how comfortable they seemed to be, even in the neighborhood, they were in the Bronx, and just enjoyed the time that they were there. They were very genuine and caring, made a really good connection, not only with Mo and myself, but I think, with his entire family.”

“Mo is very close with his mom, so for him, I’m sure it meant even more.”

It did. This was the first time a college coach had visited Dioubate in his home, typically a staple of the recruiting process.

“I was kind of shocked that he came. I never had a home visit before from any coach. So, yeah, that made me respect him even more.”

Hearing Dioubate describe the visit made Diallo flash back to his own experiences.

“It means a lot for us. I mean, coming from where we come from, when somebody wants to spend the day with you, and come see how you’re living and come greet your parents, it means the world. And that’s the similar thing that was done for me when I was being recruited for college, so I get that feeling of how that felt for him. 

“It’s a touching moment when you can make a connection with a coach in your home that you grew up in, that you’re trying to move your family out of. I mean, it’s just – it’s no better feeling.”

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Dioubate and the rest of his teammates arrived in Lexington the first week of June for summer workouts. Although he was one of six incoming transfers, he didn’t hesitate to step up as a leader. He knew firsthand what Pope’s first Kentucky team lacked, and what he could do to fix it.

“I can’t wait. I try to get the guys going every practice to try to play as hard as I do, or at least match the intensity,” he said. “I feel like that’s something that we could be really good at this year, defense. I feel like the defensive energy, it could be contagious, really contagious.”

Pope thinks so highly of Dioubate’s skills on defense that he compared him to Draymond Green for his ability to guard all positions. He has a knack for picking up on weaknesses and exploiting them, which is exactly what he did vs. Otega Oweh and Kentucky last season. 

“Going into the game, we had a scout for every team we played,” Dioubate said of Alabama’s prep for Kentucky. “Going into this game, I knew that was something that they lacked a little bit. So once we’d seen that [on film], we just apply the pressure to them every time we can. And I’m happy that I’m able to play with Kentucky this year and bring it to this team.”

That’s just one reason why Oweh and the rest of the players who faced Dioubate when he was at Alabama are happy to be on the same team with him now.

“It’s gonna be lovely,” Oweh said of teaming up with Dioubate. “I know what he brings, and I didn’t like playing against him, if I’m being honest. I know he’s gonna have that same effect on other people on other teams. It’s gonna be great.”

Florida beat Alabama twice last season, but Florida transfer guard Denzel Aberdeen noted the problems Dioubate gave the Gators.

“Mo’s going to be a great player for this team. He always goes hard each and every possession and practice, and stuff like that. Obviously, I played him last year at Bama. He was going hard. He was playing defense hard. He was crashing the boards hard, and he’s going to do exactly what he did there here, but even better.

“Each and every day, he’s going to push you. He doesn’t back down from nobody. He’s a strong guy and he’s going to be great for Kentucky.”

Dioubate isn’t the only defensive stopper on this squad. Jayden Quaintance transferred to Kentucky from Arizona State as a Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection. Kam Williams averaged 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks per game at Tulane and led Kentucky in defensive impact metric (DIM) this summer, per Pope. Even Oweh and Aberdeen flashed on defense at times last season. With that roster makeup, Dioubate believes Kentucky can be one of the best defensive teams in the country, another common refrain in this summer’s interviews.

“I think with the squad we have, we’re able to do it,” Dioubate said. “If we don’t do it, we’re doing a disservice to ourselves because we have all the tools, all the intangibles to do it. So I’m just trying to be a leader, trying to play my part with that, because I know that’s something I’m really good at.”

Being a leader means that you’re not always popular. In June, Dioubate told reporters that part of leadership is making someone uncomfortable by telling them the truth. He’s done that a few times so far, especially with the freshmen. 

“I got on one of them because he kept making the same mistakes. But it wasn’t to make him feel bad about himself; it was just to try to help him and correct him. Yeah, I got on him, just like how any leader would, or any older guy would, because he’s still learning. So, I told him, like, ‘Yo, pick it up. Like, pick it up.’ I didn’t say it like that. I said it, you know, more intense, but, you know, I try to tell them, pick up the energy. Stop walking around.”

Another sign Dioubate and Pope are on the same page: Dioubate has started sharing “Mo-Tivational” quotes with the team each week, which are then posted on Kentucky’s social media accounts. The first “Mo-Tivational Monday” quote came on the first day of fall practice: “The road is long, but every stone that you pass is proof that you’re moving forward.” The second is even more fitting: “The climb to the top is going to be hard. There’s going to be a lot of adversity. There’s going to be a lot of hardship, a lot of times you feel like quitting, but ultimately, remember the view is going to be worth it. So, don’t give up. Stay persistent, and stay motivated to the top.”

Round two of Monday inspiration with @MoDioubate ✨ pic.twitter.com/aWXlXsMmkJ

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 30, 2025

Dioubate’s positive approach is further proof to Diaz of a perfect pairing.

“Pope is going to be a guy who’s going to be able to get Mo to kind of play in a way that he never did before,” Diaz said. “A lot of people are probably going to see Mo at a totally different level. That’s going to be fun for the BBN, but also for the team and Coach to bring something to the table that probably a lot of people didn’t see, but that was always there. 

“And that’s one thing that goes way back to eighth grade, where I saw things in him that a lot of people didn’t see, and I always believed that in him.”

Seeing how quickly Dioubate has taken to his new surroundings also showed Diaz that he won’t waste this opportunity.

“Man, I tell you, he’s probably one of the most genuine and caring kids and honest kids that I’ve ever coached; hard working, that’s what you’re going to get,” Diaz said. “One of the hardest-working guys in the business, genuine, caring. What you see is what you get. He’s not playing the second role.”

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Dioubate and Diallo reconnected this summer in Queens, training together when Kentucky was on break and before Diallo left for Spain to play for Baskonia in the Euroleague. As you might imagine, Kentucky came up a lot during those sessions. Diallo is excited to see Dioubate unlock new areas of his game under Pope, whom Diallo got to know better in Las Vegas during the NBA Summer League in July.

“I feel like Mo, he’s just scratching the surface, and he has so much room for improvement. And I feel like with the staff at Kentucky, they’re honed in on that. Mark Pope is very into his development and feels like he has a chance as well.”

Diallo’s biggest advice for Dioubate had nothing to do with his game; it had to do with the spotlight that comes with being a Kentucky Basketball player. 

“He told me, don’t take it for granted, the time that I’m here,” Dioubate said. “Try to get everything out of it as I can, you know, setting examples. Try to do something where you’re going to be remembered forever. Just be good to the people; they’re going to be good to you as well.”

“I told him, just be prepared for the Big Blue Nation,” Diallo said. “There’s nothing like it. So, once a Cat, always a Cat, too. I think that pretty that the legacy and that alumni base is something that he really wanted to be a part of, and helped his decision-making a lot.”

Kentucky won the SEC Tournament in Diallo’s season before losing to Kansas State in the Sweet 16. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Knox, and Jarred Vanderbilt were also on that roster and drafted ahead of Diallo, the only one of those four not currently playing in the NBA. Some may view that as a disappointment given Diallo’s lofty expectations coming out of high school, but Diallo insists he’s enjoying a blessed life, playing basketball in one of the most beautiful places in the world; his time at Kentucky, in part, is to thank for that.

“I tell people that all the time, I miss Kentucky so much,” Diallo said. “My two years at Kentucky taught me so much about just how to be a man. It’s not so much about basketball. I mean, I had my highs, I had my lows at Kentucky, and just playing at Kentucky and playing on with those bright lights at such a young age, just prepared me for the things that I’m doing now.”

The full Kentucky experience is about to get underway for Dioubate, with Big Blue Madness on Saturday night, preseason scrimmages over the following three weeks, and then the season opener on November 4. So far, the reality is living up to the dream.

“I love it,” Dioubate said. “I love it. I can’t wait for the season, though. That’s something I’ve been waiting for this whole time we’ve been here. Obviously, the process, the anticipation makes it even more fun, but the lifestyle has been good. A lot of respect, a lot of love from the fans, the people in the community. It’s been good, man, I’m messing with it. I like it.”

Dioubate still needs to try some of Diallo’s Lexington restaurant recommendations (Tony’s, an African Caribbean restaurant for a taste of home, several taco places), but Diallo can tell he’s taking the rest of his advice seriously.

“There’s no other school on the planet that’s like Kentucky,” Diallo said. “I mean, when I say it, people take it lightly. He took it lightly a little bit, and now he’s starting to feel the love and starting to feel what Kentucky is all about.“

The game Dioubate is looking most forward to is actually in New York, the matchup vs. Michigan State in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 18. It will be the first time he’s played in New York City since leaving Queens in 2022. Dioubate asked Nate Oats to schedule a game in the city while he was at Alabama, but the closest he got was Newark when Alabama played Duke in the Elite Eight this past March. Madison Square Garden is only about 13 miles closer to Dioubate’s neighborhood than the Prudential Center, but for a New York kid, it makes a world of difference.

“It’s my first time playing in New York in my college career; I have no choice but to be excited,” Dioubate said. “I have a lot of people who have been waiting on me to come back home so they could watch me, my fans, family, supporters, who weren’t able to make it to Tuscaloosa to watch any of the games, they have the opportunity to watch me now. The people who have been watching me since I was a kid, you know, they that’s all they asked me for, was just to watch me play. 

“So, I can’t wait for it, man. Y’all better be there, man, tune in. It’s gonna be a movie that day, for sure.”

Diallo will be watching from Spain, the roles reversed. Nine years after Dioubate marveled at Diallo’s antics at Lincoln Park, Diallo will be on the edge of his seat to see what his “little brother” does under the spotlight at The World’s Most Famous Arena.

“He’s a guy that’s gonna leave it on the court every night,” Diallo said. “For any organization or team, that’s the kind of guy you want to go to war with every night. So, I’ll be watching. I’ll be tuned in, like always, like every year. It’ll just be like my little brother playing this year. So I’ll be watching extra closely.”