Cavaliers Set to Sign Khalifa Diop, Leaving Baskonia Without Center

Four years after drafting him, the Cleveland Cavaliers appear ready to claim Khalifa Diop. According to Jake Fischer and reported by Hoops Wire, the franchise intends to use its 14th standard roster spot on a player whose draft rights it already holds, with the Senegalese center from Baskonia being the most likely candidate.

A four-year wait

Diop was selected 39th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. Immediately after, basketball operations president Koby Altman announced that Cleveland would allow him to develop in Spain, with special advisor José Calderón overseeing his progress. That long-distance monitoring has now extended four seasons.

The player, who will turn 25 in January, developed through Gran Canaria's youth system, where he made his EuroLeague debut at just seventeen years old. In 2023, he signed with Baskonia after the Vitoria club paid the €700,000 release clause—one of the most ambitious investments in their recent history.

2025-26 season numbers

Last season he appeared in 28 EuroLeague games, averaging 4.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 16.8 minutes, shooting 69.1 percent from the field. It's his best rebounding mark since arriving in Vitoria, though still far from the expectations his signing generated.

That's the key to this move. Diop has never fully lived up to his potential at Baskonia, and his performance has fallen short of the investment made, but his profile—2.11 meters tall, athletic, vertical, and highly efficient in the paint on low volume—fits perfectly what the NBA seeks in a cheap fifth big man off the bench. His remaining weakness remains free throw shooting.

And here Saliou Niang enters the picture again

The other part of the story connects to what we reported this morning. The Cavaliers also hold the rights to Saliou Niang, the 58th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, who had declared his intention to play this season at LSU before making the jump to Cleveland. However, his eligibility is in limbo due to new SEC rules regarding players who have been through professional drafts—an unresolved matter.

If Niang's college plans fall through, Cleveland could accommodate both: Diop on the 14th roster spot and Niang via a two-way contract. There are no indications that's the current plan, but the two paths are not mutually exclusive.

The franchise also holds the rights to Ismael Kamagate, acquired in the five-team trade involving Peyton Watson, though Fischer noted the Frenchman is not the player Cleveland has in mind and is currently under contract in Italy.

What it would mean for Baskonia

If the move materializes, the Vitoria club would lose one of its key interior players with the season about to begin and with no real margin to replace him with guarantees. It's the risk any European club assumes when retaining a player with NBA rights: the call can come at any time, and it arrives when the franchise deems it convenient.