Moussa Diabate Fighting Through Illness, Back Pain in Summer League
Last year's second-round pick is producing for the Clippers despite not being at 100 percent.
Moussa Diabate, the LA Clippers’ second-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, has been dealing with back pain and sickness during this year’s Summer League campaign, he divulged to Russo Writes on Tuesday.
“Man, I have a lot of shit going on, man,” Diabate said.
Diabate is averaging 8.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks on 35.7 percent shooting so far through two games in Summer League. It's definitely not up to the standard of play that he sets for himself, and while the other factors could definitely be contributing to the lack of production and impact, Diabate knows he hasn't fully delivered yet.
“I don’t think I’ve been playing that well,” Diabate told Russo Writes. But the big man did go on to say that one thing he thinks has improved for him over the last year is the way he’s able to read the game, especially on the defensive end.
“I definitely think that, like, defensively it feels easier. It definitely feels a lot easier. Even against, like, bigger players, like the big men that we played yesterday, it just felt easier. I felt like I understand more, I can see the floor more easily. Even on my switches, I feel like my IQ just got better, I think, overall.”
In Monday’s win against the Sacramento Kings, Diabate put up five points, nine rebounds, and four assists in 24 minutes. He missed all four shots he took from the field. At one point in the first half, Diabate walked to the baseline area in front of where Tyronn Lue, Steve Ballmer, Trent Redden, Jerry West, and the rest of the Clippers' brass were sitting. Diabate appeared to say something in Lue's direction, to which Lue asked what he said. Diabate then said his head was spinning.
Now we know why.
“So, I threw up right before [the game],” Diabate admitted. “It’s been just my head spinning around a little bit, feeling a little lightheaded, you know. But it is what it is. It’s, like I said, fighting through it and just learning from it, you know. So it is what it is.”
It’s not just an illness that Diabate has apparently been going through. There’s also the back pain that has given him some trouble.
“My body’s been hurting a little bit,” Diabate told Russo Writes. “Well, I got a little something going on right now with my, around my back or whatever. So, yeah, since like training camp. So, I’m still figuring it out, but, you know, gotta play through it, you know.
“It’s just some muscle pain. Something that we’re figuring out. So, we’re gonna take it day by day and get right with it. That’s all it is.”
The Clippers are hoping that Diabate can morph into the type of new-age big man that they can rely on, one who can be capable of being a rim-running threat while providing switchable skills on the defensive end.
One new thing Diabate showed on Monday was his ability to bring the ball up the floor, at one point even going behind-the-back and performing a ‘Euro Step’ before attempting a layup that ultimately got blocked. But that ability to be multifaceted and a potential ball-handler in transition is tantalizing.
“I don’t feel uncomfortable bringing the ball up,” Diabate said. “I think that’s just, you know, as time goes through y’all gonna see more, but yeah, I don’t feel uncomfortable pushing the ball.”
Hopefully, Diabate is able to feel better over the coming days and weeks, thus allowing him to put in better performances in Summer League as a result. There’s a real chance he could get rotation minutes later on in the season if his development keeps going as well as it has been.
Diabate averaged 16.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks on 56.9 percent shooting in 33 contests last year in the G League for the Ontario Clippers.1