Moussa Diabaté gave the Charlotte Hornets exactly the kind of opening-night jolt that changes a game before anyone has settled in. He finished with 17 points, five steals and five offensive rebounds in a 110-103 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night at Barclays Center.
He did it in 33:38 at center, starting for Charlotte and turning a first game of the season into a showcase of activity. Diabaté shot 7 of 11 from the field and made all three free throws, added eight rebounds and three assists, and was responsible for five of Charlotte’s nine steals. He also grabbed five of the team’s 15 offensive rebounds, a big part of why Charlotte won the second-chance battle 20-8 and scored 21 points off Brooklyn’s 22 turnovers.
The numbers also show why the box score only tells part of the story. Charlotte outscored Brooklyn 48-44 in the paint and survived the possession game even while Diabaté committed four turnovers and four fouls. The Hornets were outscored by 16 points in his minutes, a reminder that an aggressive stat line can come with loose stretches when a center is asked to cover ground, create extra possessions and anchor the middle all at once.
That imbalance matters because Diabaté is no longer filling in around the edges. He entered the season as Charlotte’s starting center after spending last year moving from backup to starter, and Wednesday’s opener showed both sides of that role: the disruptive plays that swing a game and the mistakes that come with being in the middle of almost everything. Ryan Kalkbrenner played 13:58 behind him, and Charlotte was outscored by 22 with Kalkbrenner on the floor, a split that underlined how much the Hornets leaned on Diabaté from the start.
There is history behind the performance, too. Diabaté was drafted 43rd overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2022 out of Michigan, spent part of his rookie year with the Clippers’ G League team in Ontario, and later saw Charlotte convert his two-way deal into a standard three-year contract in February. Last season, he averaged 7.9 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 73 games while shooting 63.1% and pulling down 3.7 offensive rebounds per game. He had already shown he can bother Brooklyn, scoring 13 points in a 136-117 opening win a year ago and setting his career high of 21 points against the Nets on Feb. 10, 2025.
For Charlotte, the opener suggested that Diabaté’s value is not just in scoring. Charles Lee has talked about the team’s need for deflections and guys diving on the floor, and Diabaté delivered both in volume. What remains to be sorted is whether the Hornets can keep the same edge when the minutes shift and the frontcourt settles, because on Wednesday night he looked like the player capable of tilting a game even when the plus-minus did not fully agree.
