The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a tough salary cap position. Because they’re hard-capped at the first apron after completing the sign-and-trade for Peyton Watson, they needed to sign someone with zero years of NBA experience to remain under that threshold. To accomplish this, they signed 2022 second-round pick Khalifa Diop.
Diop is a 24-year-old, 6’11” center from Senegal. He’s spent the last three years playing professionally for Baskonia in Spain. Diop played in 47 games last season in the Liga ACB in Spain and EuroLeague. He started 38 of those contests and averaged 3.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 16.4 minutes per contest on 67% shooting from the field.
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Diop’s only experience in the wine and gold came during Summer League in 2023. There, he played just three games and averaged 4 points, 8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 17.4 minutes.
Cleveland’s main roster is likely set for the start of next season. They’ve typically gone into the season with 14 players on the roster, leaving one slot open until after the trade deadline to maintain flexibility. There’s an outside chance that an additional trade gets made or a player on an unguaranteed contract such as Mario Hezonja (contract guarantees on 11/15/26) or Craig Porter Jr. (contract guarantees on 1/10/27) is waived. Barring something like that, this is going to be the group heading into the year.
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Diop likely won’t get many minutes with the Cavaliers next season. He’ll be the fourth center on the roster behind Thomas Bryant. Still, there’s upside there given Diop’s physical traits. We’ll see if he can reach his potential in Cleveland.
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