It wasn’t too long ago that Andre Drummond declared himself as the best rebounder of all-time. Many laughed at the notion. If you look closer though, you can see that Drummond actually has a case, and it’s not as far-fetched as it may seem.
The 31-year-old Drummond owns the highest total rebound percentage in league history at 25.09%. He has won four rebounding titles in his career and has averaged 12.3 boards in 27.1 minutes per contest. While having the highest rebounding percentage of all-time doesn’t necessarily make you the best rebounder ever, Drummond can at least stake his claim to that honor.
Drummond is at least a well-known player though who has made two All-Star appearances in his career. I would venture to say that most people wouldn’t know that they just walked past Moussa Diabaté if they encountered him (although they would certainly notice his 6-foot-11 height).
You May Not Know One Of NBA’s Best Rebounders This Season
Diabaté Grabbing Rebounds With The Best Of Them
The Charlotte Hornets surely aren’t one of the NBA’s more popular teams. Fans aren’t going to be able to witness their games frequently on national television. They haven’t reached the postseason since 2016. So it’s understandable if they aren’t aware of what the 22-year-old Diabaté has been doing early on this season.
Diabate wasn’t receiving much playing time for Charlotte at the start of the season. Over the first eight games, Diabaté played just 11.3 minutes per contest. Now over the last four, that number has increased to 26.8. His rebounding totals in those games? Double-digits in each one at 15, 11, 15, and 14. Diabaté had an incredible 10 offensive rebounds in Saturday’s one-point win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
In the Hornets first 12 games, Diabaté is averaging 7.6 rebounds in just 16.4 minutes per outing. That equates to 16.6 boards per 36 minutes. That places him second in the NBA only behind Golden State Warriors center Kevon Looney.
Diabaté Now In His Third Season
Diabaté was selected in the second round (43rd overall) by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2022 NBA Draft. He played one season collegiately for Michigan where he averaged a solid, but unspectacular, 6.0 rebounds while playing 24.9 minutes per game.
Over his first two NBA seasons, Diabaté barely saw any playing time for the Clippers. He appeared in just 33 games for Los Angeles in 2022-23 and 2023-24 for a grand total of just 259 minutes. Diabaté instead saw much more action over those two years with the Ontario Clippers of the G League.
During his time with the Clippers, he grabbed 74 rebounds in 259 minutes. That’s good for 10.3 rebounds per 36 minutes, a good number but nowhere near what we have seen in Charlotte. Diabaté has already grabbed 17 more rebounds with the Hornets than he did with the Clippers, and that’s with playing 62 less minutes with Charlotte.
Can Diabaté continue to look like prime Dennis Rodman on the glass? They play Sunday against the 14-0 Cleveland Cavaliers. A huge upset win by Charlotte with a stellar performance by Diabaté could get more eyes on him. Even with an expected loss though, his work on the boards needs to be appreciated.
