The Michigan Wolverines secured the National Championship, head coach Dusty May has brought in elite recruiting and transfer portal classes, and all seems to be going as well as possible in Ann Arbor.
However, the success at the college basketball level isn't where it stops for the Wolverines, with former Michigan stars finding their footing and making their mark in the NBA as well.
One of the more notable accomplishments in the league was former Michigan forward Moussa Diabate earning the NBA's Hustle Award, given to the "player who makes the effort plays that do not often appear in the box score but help determine team success."
Moussa Diabate wins 2025-26 NBA Hustle Award
This season, Diabate earned a lot of appearances in the starting lineup for the Charlotte Hornets, starting in 47 of the 73 games he played in.
Throughout those 73 games, he averaged an impressive 7.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.8 steals per game, all of which were career highs for the former Wolverine.
While the Hornets fell short of actually making it to the Playoffs, Diabate was an instrumental part of their regular-season successes and their impressive showings in the league's postseason play-in games.
The winner of the 2025-26 @Kia NBA Hustle Award is... Moussa Diabaté!
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2026
The award honors a player who makes the effort plays that do not often appear in the box score but help determine team success. pic.twitter.com/ktNJlBCfZF
Coming out of Ann Arbor, Diabata was selected in the second round, going 43rd overall to the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2022 NBA Draft. Two years later, he was traded to the Hornets, for whom he has played 144 games.
When he was lacing up for the Wolverines, under then-head coach Juwan Howard, Diabate averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 0.9 blocks, 0.8 assists, and 0.3 steals per game. He played just one season at Michigan, appearing in 32 matchups and starting on 26 occasions.
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