The Cleveland Cavaliers completed their main offseason business on Wednesday, agreeing to a four-year contract with young center Khalifa Diop worth $9.26 million in total, with $1.36 million guaranteed in Year 1.
Much of their summer has been spent signing and trading well-known names, from new deals for James Harden and Donovan Mitchell to saying goodbye to Max Strus, Dennis Schroder and Dean Wade. Diop, however, is not a name many Cavaliers fans will know -- and if they know the name, they may not know his game.
Who is Diop, and why did the Cavaliers sign him? Here are 5 things that Cavaliers fans should know about their new center, starting with the obvious.
1. Who is Khalifa Diop?
Khalifa Diop is a 24-year-old center who has been playing for the last few seasons in Spain's Liga ACB, considered by most to be the top league outside of the USA. He has played for Saski Baskonia, one of the league's better teams. Earlier this season, Baskonia won the Copa del Rey title, the first time it had done so in 17 years.
Diop is from Senegal originally, and he has played for his home country in some international competitions. He also received some awards in various competitions as a "rising star" in Europe, adding to the intrigue of his upside and potential.
2. The Cavaliers drafted him in 2022
Armed with the 39th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, the Cavaliers drafted Khalifa Diop after something of a breakout season with Gran Canaria, a lower-level Spanish team where Diop was developed. He even joined the Cavaliers for Summer League that year, appearing in three games on the team that won the Summer League championship.
Baskonia offered Diop a large contract to stay in Spain, and the Cavaliers were happy to stash him as he developed without taking up a roster spot. He has been playing regularly in Spain ever since.
3. Diop is still a project
With the caveat that stats for young bigs in European play are often depressed compared to what you might expect from the NBA side, Diop's numbers this past season were far from dominant. He appeared in 19 games in La Liga, averaging 3.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. In his 28 EuroLeague appearances, those averages bumped to 4.0 points and 4.2 boards.
While Diop was a strong player at U19 FIBA events, and made the Senegal National Team for World Cup qualifiers in 2022, he was left off the senior team this go around -- not a great sign for his development and impact. The Cavaliers are not signing a European star, as they did with Mario Hezonja.
4. His size is real
One thing that has not failed to develop is Diop's size. The NBA's release on his signing listed him at 6'11", which is two inches taller than when he was drafted. At the draft, his wingspan was 7'2" and may have gone up as well. Diop has also clearly leveled up his strength and weight, as he is listed at 231 pounds. He is not easily moved off of his spot.
That development was crucial to his finishing this season, where he nearly led his league in field goal percentage. Across both leagues, he shot 67 percent from the field. And while his numbers were modest, he started in 38 of his 47 appearances.
5. Cavaliers had to sign him
Signing Diop out of all of the available free agents may be a surprise, until one realizes the financial situation the Cavaliers were in. To execute a sign-and-trade for Peyton Watson, the Cavaliers hard-capped themselves at the first tax apron. Then, to give James Harden the contract they offered to him, they shrunk their available space under that apron to less than a veteran minimum deal.
To add a 14th player, therefore, they needed to sign someone who made less than the vet minimum -- which meant signing a former second-round pick to a rookie scale contract. That gave them three viable options: Salou Niang, Ismael Kamagate, and Khalifa Diop.
Niang is making multiple millions to play for LSU this season, so he was off the table. Kamagate, acquired in the Peyton Watson trade, is a massive question mark and has a long ways to go. Of the three, Diop was the best option.
The Cavaliers won't get much from Diop this season, and hopefully they won't need it. The hope would be to develop him into a solid defensive center ready to step in as needed due to injury in the future. Signed to a four-year deal, he has plenty of runway to grow into an NBA role.
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