Mohamed Diawara Scouting Report

Wing ball handlers with the combination of great athleticism and playmaking skills will draw attention from NBA scouts. But there's more to his game. Here are 3K+ words on his role and potential:

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Mohamed Diawara — Cholet Basket (France)

6’8” — Small Forward/Power Forward

Date of Birth: Apr 29, 2005 (19 years old)

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Introduction

After representing France at the U16, U17, U19, and U20 levels, Diawara made a name for himself on the international circuit. The bulky point forward played a limited role where he showed flashes of his on-ball potential as someone who made plays out of closeouts while also serving as a play-finisher. However, Diawara can also create for himself by hunting mismatches.

As one of Paris Basketball’s bright talents, Diawara changed sides and joined Cholet Basket, where he had more opportunities to find play minutes in both the French league and the Europe Cup, the continent's fourth-tier international league. Positives such as taking care of the ball stand out, but there are areas to work on if he wants to carve out a feasible role at the next level. That’s the emphasis of this scouting report.

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Physical Profile

At 6-foot-8, Diawara has good positional size to play the three but is undersized to play the four consistently, which is the current position. However, his great athleticism combined, with good handles and ball skills makes it feasible he can change his role in the NBA. There is no official measurement, but his wingspan should be around 7-foot-1 or 7-foot-2.

Diawara has big hands with good coordination. His core strength immediately stands out as he’s good at absorbing contact while having fluid hips to support his mobility. Diawara has decent verticality with enough room to continue to fill his frame at the next level, considering the broad shoulders. There is no official weight listing available, but he should be around 210-215 pounds.

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Mohamed Diawara (#12) in action for Cholet Basket, photo via Cholet.

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Offense

Mohamed Diawara’s shot chart of his last two seasons as of 2 March 2025

Catch-and-drive

Making plays out of closeouts should be Diawara’s bread and butter in the NBA. However, there are some areas to clean up on that end. He’s often not pivoting well before elevating his burst. On top of that, he’s not taking the right angles when attacking the basket. It’s as if he’s following a script of always attacking the weak side and/or baseline instead of trusting his instincts.

We see an example in the first play below. The opponent didn’t balance out the closeout well instead of using a hesitation move or jab step to attack the strong side to collapse and force help defense to ensure open shooters, Diawara attacked the weak side, dribbling right into his defender and thus left being forced to attempt a tough stepback three from the corner.

However, when not over-rushing his decisions, Diawara shows decent footwork before his drives. The athletic play in the second possession is a simple execution, but it shows his aggressiveness in trying to dunk it home when he’s at the rim rather than laying it in. In the third play below, the angles were closed, and Diawara tested if he’d create an angle on the strong side with jab steps with his right. His quick trigger as a shooter gives him an extra weapon when he doesn’t get the right angles against closeout defenders.

The most vital part of his scoring prowess comes through his physicality. Diawara does well by using his craft, handles, and strong upper body to attack the defender’s chest when he cannot blow by his opponents. In the fourth play below, he’s attacking the closeout at a bad angle, but his aggressiveness to unbalance his opponent while forcing him to react at the same time led to him creating a scoring angle in the mid-post area where he’s using his length and coordination well to execute the unblockable lay-in. That’s an example of his improving touch around the basket.

Catch-and-shoot

Despite shooting 31.9% on 2.2 attempts this season, Diawara has a translatable shot for the NBA. His footwork while setting his feet quickly is a combination that’ll serve him well against faster closeout defenders. He has an incredibly high-arcing release, which makes it nearly impossible to block, considering his excellent length. By smoothly elevating his jumper, Diawara shows the right process to develop into a volume shooter at the next level.

He’s an active communicator, not afraid to demand the ball when he’s open despite playing among much older teammates. Diawara’s positioning is excellent, changing his motion to ensure he’s at 180 degrees from the basket while positioning his body well. He sets his feet quickly in the first play below to smoothly power up for his high-arcing jumper. As the graph above shows, he’s most comfortable shooting from the corners, making it an increasing fit when considering his projected low-usage role with fewer ball touches.

In the second play, Diawara had a wide-open lane to cut to the rim and dunk home the two points after the extra pass. However, he remained positioned in the corner to shoot the three. NBA games are won by the margins, and better decision-making like that will increase the margins. I like Diawara’s confidence in trusting his shot, but a wide-open backdoor cut like that has to be utilized at all times. However, the confidence will always be there. You hear Diawara shouting for the ball in the third play below before drilling the elbow three. The shot process makes sense and can be scaled up to more volume. However, the shot selection at times needs to improve.

Screen-off shooting

Diawara’s active cutting is another area where he’ll fit into the motion-based NBA game. He’s comfortable with his position in the corner but often looks to respond to defenders reacting around him to put himself in the best position to create angles for ball handlers. Whether he comes off screens or camps the weak side, Diawara has a good feel for how to get to his spots. Now that we see fewer zone defenses played in the NBA, that’s the type of off-ball movement NBA scouts seek for their low-usage role players.

Making sure he’s in clear sight of his teammates is the focus. In the first play below, we see an example. Diawara doesn’t attempt the backdoor, considering the pressure on the rim from the roll man. Instead, he makes sure to be in the right position for the corner three. At times, Diawara gets rid of his habit of sticking to the corner, as shown in the second play below. He has to get more comfortable in attacking the rim. In this sequence, he shows his ball security, where he gets two feet inside the paint with long strides, trusting his footwork.

In the third play below, Diawara hits the hard cut to the rim after coming off the curl. His habit of keeping the ball high brings him success, as he’ll be less actively hacked, considering his free-throw shooting of under 55%. His active cutting and recognizing angles, combined with his court vision, make it easy for Diawara to spot the gaps in the defense. In the fourth play below, he’s using the flat screen in the middle. His fundamentally sound game makes it easy for him to spot easy baskets and thus support a team’s offensive rating even when his jumpers aren’t falling.

Pick-and-roll

Diawara’s skill as a 6-foot-8 ball handler will earn him sequences in the pick-and-roll later in his career. He has good handles for his size despite prioritizing his right hand most of the time. His feel for angles while using his strong body to get downhill makes Diawara a skilled, finesse-based scorer rather than him fully utilizing his athleticism. Despite slower lateral quickness, Diawara has a decent first step where his M.O. is to immediately attack his defender’s chest. However, he should continue to play with the same aggressiveness when he gets downhill. Despite the ability to create scoring angles, Diawara struggles to earn himself trips to the charity stripe, averaging under two attempts per game.

In the first play, Diawara forces the switch after utilizing the ball screen. Hereafter, he’s smartly relocating slightly to the right to ensure two options here: attacking the closeout or taking the NBA-ranged three off the dribble. His willingness to shoot over his opponent is translatable for the NBA level. However, at times, he’s forcing the offense rather than making the extra pass to avoid bad misses and giving up transition opportunities to his opponents. In the second possession, Diawara drove into the help defender, taking out his balance, whereafter he had to pick up his dribble in the mid-post area. He still found a scoring angle with his good footwork, but passing out of full coverage was the best option here.

For the NBA, his untapped potential as a foul-drawer is worth the investment. Diawara doesn’t make a good decision in the third play below by attacking the strong side, but he’s good at attacking his defender in the chest area, forcing him to make a decision. But despite drawing the foul, Diawara should work on finding ways to draw fouls during his scoring motion rather than getting fouled before his shot. But for the next few years, Diawara’s feet and long strides will help him get downhill at will. In the fourth possession, he rejects the incoming ball screen to attack the straight-line lane on the weak side, where he takes two long strides to fully open up the scoring angle. Despite below-average numbers at the rim, Diawara shows a good touch around the basket.

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