Charlotte Hornets’ Moussa Diabaté wins NBA award for performance in 2025-26 season
Turns out the Charlotte Hornets have a recipient of a 2025-26 NBA regular-season award after all.
Moussa Diabaté has been selected as the Kia Hustle Award winner, the league announced Thursday. The honor comes three days after Diabaté’s teammate Kon Knueppel finished second to Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA’s rookie of the year voting.
The hustle award highlights someone who makes effort plays that don’t typically appear in box scores, but still help drive team success. Presented annually since the 2016-17 season, the recipient is determined by a statistical formula incorporating the metrics of deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots and box-outs.
A relentless presence on the inside, the 6-foot-10 forward/center ranked second in the NBA in offensive rebound percentage (16.5) and amassed the third-highest number of offensive rebounds (273) in the league. His 3.7 offensive rebounds per game ranked fifth.
After beginning the 2025-26 campaign as a reserve behind rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner, a left elbow sprain sidelined Kalkbrenner and Diabaté was thrust into the starting lineup alongside Knueppel, LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges. Diabaté thrived with the unit, which is a big reason he posted career highs of 7.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game in 73 appearances.
Charlotte compiled a 31-16 record in Diabaté’s 47 starts.
