SEN/ESP - Fuenlabrada’s Diagné shines

ÁVILA (Adecco Plata/Liga Endesa) - Spain has been a launch pad to stardom for many African players over the years.

Two of them, Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, are in the NBA.

Ibaka, 23, hails from the Republic of Congo.

He played for Manresa in Spain before leaving for the NBA and the Oklahoma City Thunder four years ago.

Ibaka is a shot-blocker extraordinaire.

While playing for Spain's national team at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania, he had five blocks in the first half of the Final triumph over France.

Biyombo, 20, hails from Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He ended up in Spain as a teenager and after a season with Fuenlabrada, the 2.06m power forward/center joined the Charlotte Bobcats as a lottery pick.

Another African, Moussa Diagné, made headlines over the weekend with a 16-point, 12-rebound performance with Grupo Eulen Carrefour ‘El Bulévar’ Ávila in their 73-44 win over Gran Canaria 2014.

Diagné, a Senegalese who signed a five-year contract with Fuenlabrada in July, isn't likely to get much playing time this season with the senior team in  the Liga Endesa so he is currently in the lower division, the Adecco Plata.

The 18-year-old also had a block and two dunks and was named as the Adecco Plata's Player of the Week.

Another Senegalese to raise eyebrows in Spain is Ilimane Diop Gaye, a 2.09m center who this summer represented his adopted homeland at this past summer's U18 European Championship in Latvia and Lithuania.

Gaye averaged 10 points and 7.2 rebounds as the Spaniards finished fifth.

He also represented Spain at the FIBA U17 World Championship and averaged 14.4 points and 8.5 boards.

In a game against Croatia on the fourth of July, Gaye made spectators’ jaws drop with a 29-point, 19-rebound and four-block performance but Spain lost, 73-68.

FIBA