Boris Diaw

Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod (born April 16, 1982), better known as Boris Diaw, is a French basketball executive and former player who is the president of Metropolitans 92 of LNB Pro A.

Diaw began his playing career in Pro A and returned to that league after 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played mostly at the power forward position.

In 2000, Diaw won the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with the French junior national team.

From 2001 to 2003, Diaw played for Pau-Orthez of the LNB Pro A, a French professional basketball league.

In 2002, he competed in the league's All-Star game and the Slam Dunk contest.

Diaw was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 21st overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft.

On July 10, 2003, he signed a multi-year deal with the Hawks.

He earned an All-EuroBasket Team selection in 2005.

In August 2005, he was traded with two future first-round picks to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for future teammate Joe Johnson.

In Phoenix, Diaw blossomed into an all-round player, playing any position from center to point guard and garnered the nickname "3D" because of his multidimensional play (his motto being "drive, dish, defend") and the combination of his number (3) and surname.

Diaw averaged 13.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.0 blocks per game on 52.6% field goal shooting and 73.1% from the free throw line in the 2005–06 season where he played both forward positions and then center after injuries to Amar'e Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas.

In 2006, Diaw was named the NBA's Most Improved Player as a member of the Phoenix Suns.

During the 2006 NBA playoffs, as the Suns' starting center, Diaw averaged 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

In Game 1 of the 2006 Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Diaw scored a career-high 34 points, including the game-winner with 0.5 seconds remaining in regulation, to help the Suns to a 121–118 victory, although Phoenix would go on the lose the series in six games.

In July 2006, Diaw was named the captain of the senior men's French national basketball team.

On December 10, 2008, Diaw, along with Raja Bell and Sean Singletary, was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley.

On September 28, 2011, Diaw signed with JSA Bordeaux of France for the duration the 2011 NBA lockout.

In December 2011, he returned to the Charlotte Bobcats.

On March 21, 2012, Diaw was waived by the Bobcats.

Two days later, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs for the rest of the season.

On July 12, 2012, Diaw re-signed with the Spurs to a reported two-year, $9.2 million deal.

Diaw helped the Spurs reach the 2013 NBA Finals where they faced the Miami Heat.

San Antonio lost the series in seven games.

He won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.

Diaw was a member and captain of the senior French national team.

He won a FIBA World Cup bronze medal in 2014, a EuroBasket title in 2013, a silver medal in EuroBasket 2011, and two bronze in EuroBasket 2005 and EuroBasket 2015.

On June 15, 2014, Diaw won his first NBA championship after the Spurs defeated the Miami Heat 4–1 in the 2014 NBA Finals.

He was inserted into the starting lineup beginning with Game 3, and he led all players in the series in total assists (29) and was second in total rebounds (43) behind teammate Tim Duncan (50).

Diaw averaged 35 minutes per game in the Finals, an increase of over 10 minutes from the regular season.

On July 15, 2014, Diaw re-signed with the Spurs to a reported three-year, $22 million contract.

On August 1, 2015, Diaw played for Team Africa at the 2015 NBA Africa exhibition game.

On July 8, 2016, Diaw was traded, along with a 2022 second-round pick and cash considerations, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for the rights to Olivier Hanlan.

In early November 2016, Diaw missed eight games with a right leg contusion.

On July 13, 2017, he was waived by the Jazz.

On September 17, 2017, Diaw signed with the Levallois Metropolitans, a French team, for the 2017–18 season.

With Levallois, he played in the LNB Pro A and EuroCup.

He averaged 11.1 points, 6.4 rebounds in 31.2 minutes per game in 31 Pro A games.

Diaw announced his retirement via his Twitter account on September 6, 2018.

Since July 2019, Diaw has served as president of Metropolitans 92.