The 20-year-old Senegalese center Khalifa Diop, from Gran Canaria, has been chosen as this season’s “emerging star” in the Eurocup, in a vote made by the coaches who competed in the tournament. In a statement, the Euroleague recalls that the Emerging Star Trophy of the Eurocup recognizes each season the most outstanding player under 22 years of age in the tournament.
Trained in the Granca academy since he was a teenager, Diop is at the head of several Eurocup statistics among players of that age group: has been second in blocks, with 16; third in offensive rebounds, with 30; fifth in total rebounds, with 78; and eighth in points scored, with 114, and in PIR, with 149. The young center of the yellow team Jaime Pradilla, from Valencia Basket, and Joel Parra, from Joventut Badalona, prevailed in the choice of coaches.
In his second season in the Eurocup, Diop has participated in twenty games, four of them as a starter, with an average of 15:26 minutes played per game. In the games in which he played more than 15 minutes, he averaged 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and a PIR of 12.6. His best numbers were against Valencia Basket (18 points and 9 rebounds). This is the second consecutive season that a player from Gran Canaria is chosen as “emerging star” of the Eurocup. Khalifa Diop succeeds Polish center Aleksander Balcerowski in that titlewinner of the trophy in the 2020-2021 campaign.