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Moussa Diabate Wins 2025-26 NBA Hustle Award
May 1, 2026
Posted 5 hours ago by
Charlotte Hornets center Moussa Diabate has won the 2025-26 NBA Hustle Award. The honor recognizes players whose effort-based contributions drive winning but rarely appear in traditional statistical categories. Diabate's impact coincided directly with Charlotte's dramatic midseason turnaround. The Hornets went 9-20 through Dec. 22 before posting a 35-18 record the rest of the way, the sixth-best winning percentage in the league during that stretch.
Dec. 23 marked Diabate's first game as a full-time starter. The award is determined by a statistical formula tracking deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots, and box outs. Among the 124 eligible players, Diabate ranked first in offensive box outs per minute and fourth in screen assists per minute. Diabate posted career-best numbers across the board in his fourth NBA season, averaging 7.9 points on 63.1 percent shooting, 8.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 blocks and 0.8 steals in 26.0 minutes per game. His 20 double-doubles nearly tripled his previous career total. Dyson Daniels, Draymond Green, Cedric Coward and Josh Hart rounded out the top-5.
RealGM Basketball Wiretap
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