How did Moussa Diabate look after his injury scare on Tuesday night?

The Hornets center played 12 minutes after exiting Tuesday's game with a right knee injury.
Mar 18, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Moussa Diabate (14) drives to the basket against the Atlanta Hawks during second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
Mar 18, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Moussa Diabate (14) drives to the basket against the Atlanta Hawks during second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
In this story:

During the Charlotte Hornets' game on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, the collective Hornets' faithful held their breath. Third-year center Moussa Diabate was helped to the locker room with an injury in his right leg, in what appeared to be a serious injury, as Diabate was unable to put any weight on his leg.

Diabate has been a spark plug for the Hornets this season, a two-way find by Jeff Peterson that was able to play himself into a standard NBA contract, and beat out center Mark Williams for the starting role for all of 4 days.

So, a serious injury was an extremely frightful thought amongst the fanbase.

The next day, the team announced Diabate was questionable with a right knee injury. A sigh of relief was let out as the center's injury appeared to be less significant than was thought at first.

As the Hornets released their injury report prior to game time, Diabate was announced as healthy and playing in Thursday night's game against the New York Knicks.

So, how did Moussa look? Was he rusty in his return? Well, to put it lightly, if you did not know what happened last game you would never believe it actually happened.

Diabate played 12 minutes, scoring seven points on three shots while adding five rebounds. Moussa also took a three tonight, his second in his last two games and fourth overall this season. Moussa was moving as if he never suffered an injury in his life. The former Wolverine was hitting euro-steps, navigating around the Knicks' defense, and creating shots for himself in the paint.

So, Moussa is definitely okay.

The Hornets defeated the Knicks 115-98, advancing to 18-51 on the season.

- MORE STORIES FROM HORNETS ON SI -

NBA insider thinks Charlotte Hornets are close to acing the rebuild

Hornets rookie dealing with ankle injury, listed out Thursday night

Hornets in March Madness: How far have Charlotte stars gone?

Hornets attempt to beat Knicks for first time since 2023


Published