Cleveland Cavaliers Sign Former Oklahoma City Thunder Player

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed Mamadi Diakite to a training camp deal. Diakite went undrafted in 2020 and has played for both the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Filling out the back-end of their training camp roster, the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to a training camp deal with Mamadi Diakite on Tuesday, first reported by HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

Sources: The Cleveland Cavaliers are signing Mamadi Diakite to a training camp deal, @hoopshype has learned.

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) September 20, 2022

Diakite, 25, went undrafted in 2020 and is famously known in the college basketball world for his miraculous game-saving shot for the Virginia Cavaliers in the 2019 NCAA Tournament against Purdue in the Elite-8. Forcing overtime with this shot, Virginia defeated Purdue 80-75 and then went on to win their first national championship in team history.

WE'RE HEADING TO OT! 😱#MarchMADNESS | #Elite8 pic.twitter.com/pmX7SHt35Z

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2019

In the NBA, Diakite has had trouble finding the court, as he has only played in a total of 27 games, 14 with the Milwaukee Bucks and 13 with the Oklahoma City Thunder last season.

For his career, Diakite has averaged just 3.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the floor.

A 6-foot-9 big man that can play either the power forward or center positions, Mamadi Diakite has shown flashes of his ability to be an interior presence and the reason he earned a contract with the Thunder for part of last season was because of his play with the Lakeland Magic in the G League.

There, Diakite averaged 18.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game while shooting 58.3 percent from the floor in 12 games during the 2020-21 season.

Now joining the Cleveland Cavaliers for training camp, Diakite will likely be a player the Cavs look to utilize in the G League. Both of the team’s two-way roster spots are filled at the moment and while they do have some open roster spots to fill before the 2022-23 season, Diakite will really need to impress in order to be in consideration for that kind of role.

Mamadi Diakite joins Chandler Vaudrin, Jamorko Pickett and Nate Hinton as other players who Cleveland has signed to training camp deals.