Senegal and the Clippers. Really?
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Let’s face it. Basketball has truly become an international sport.
For proof, look no further than Friday’s matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Staples Center. (Or generally, the 2004 Olympics.)
Of the three active NBA players from Senegal, two were represented in Friday’s game. They were Clippers center Cheikh Samb and Oklahoma City center Mouhamed Sene.
(How’s that for an obscure statistic?)
Samb, a tall, lean big man, was born in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, a country in western Africa. The former French colony lists fish, phosphates and petroleum products among its major exports. But recently it’s been sending near-7-foot tall basketball players to the NBA.
Samb played a season-high 23 minutes Friday and blocked three shots against the Thunder, much to the pleasure of his coach, Mike Dunleavy. ‘Cheikh Samb paid the rent,’ said Dunleavy, after giving props to great game performances by Eric Gordon and Al Thornton. The Clippers have been playing with a patchwork lineup devastated by injuries.
Before Friday’s game, Samb had played no more than four minutes in a Clippers game. ‘He came in tonight and gave us a big lift where we needed it,’ Dunleavy said Friday.
Sene, who has been nursing a knee that was surgically repaired in 2008, was inactive for Friday’s game. He was the 10th overall pick in the 2006 draft. Sene has played in five games this season and is averaging 3.4 points a game. Not much, but he’s young and injured.
And for the million-dollar question: Who’s the third active Senegalese player in the NBA?
Yup. Charlotte center DeSagna Diop, who played a major role the last couple of years as a reserve with the Dallas Mavericks.
(P.S. Maybe it’s the beginning of a trend, but even colleges such as Syracuse have recruited Senegalese players onto their teams.)
-- James Wagner
/ NBAE / Getty Images