Former NBA Slam Dunk Champion Sings With Spain's Baskonia

NBA veteran and winner of the 2019 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Hamidou Diallo, has agreed to terms with Spanish basketball powerhouse Baskonia. 

The one thing that has always been evident in Diallo's game is explosiveness. Standing at a chiseled 6-5 and owning a 44.5" vertical leap, Diallo can be nearly unstoppable when he gets a full head of steam. 

A top prospect out of high school, Diallo was a five-star prospect who spent played briefly at Kentucky before he entered the NBA draft in 2018. The swingman was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round. 

Diallo made his mark in the NBA as a scoring and energy guy off the bench. He had a breakout season in 2020-2021, where he played for the Thunder before being traded to the Detroit Pistons in midseason. He averaged a career-high 11.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. 

The explosive wing had two more successful seasonsfor the Pistons and played briefly for the Washington Wizards before moving over to China for the 2024-25 season. 

Diallo looked like a star for the Shanxi Loongs in Taiwan. During his one season in the Chinese Basketball Association, he averaged 22.1 points per game and 7.3 rebounds. He was named the league's player of the week three differnet times. 

The swingman will now be taking his talents to Baskonia in the Euro League. The team has had plenty of success and has also featured several notable former NBA players like Chase Buddinger, Lamar Odom, Shane Larkin and Casey Jacobsen. 

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Written by Todd Neikirk

Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey-based politics, entertainment and history writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com, politicususa.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books, and anything that has to do with history. When he is not sitting in front of a laptop, Todd enjoys soaking up everything the Jersey Shore has to offer with his wife, two sons and American Foxhound, Wally.