Professional career

From 2001 to 2003, Diaw played for Pau-Orthez of the LNB Pro A. 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. In August 2005, he was traded with two future first round picks to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for 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.

Diaw recorded his first career triple-double on January 31, 2006 when the Suns defeated the Philadelphia 76ers at Philadelphia, 123-99. Diaw had 14 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds, as well as a block and zero turnovers in 39 minutes. He recorded his second career triple-double shortly afterwards on March 5, 2006 when the Suns defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 115-107. On April 14, 2006, Diaw recorded his third career triple-double when the Suns suffered a loss to the Golden State Warriors, 110-102. Diaw had 11 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-high 16 assists, while adding three blocks and two steals in 42 minutes. Two days later, Diaw recorded his fourth career triple-double against the Los Angeles Lakers as the Suns lost 109-89.

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.

On December 15, 2006, Diaw recorded his fifth career triple-double in a victory against the Golden State Warriors.

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.

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.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

†	Denotes season in which Diaw won an NBA Championship

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003-04	Atlanta	76	37	25.3	.447	.231	.602	4.5	2.4	.8	.5	4.5
2004-05	Atlanta	66	25	18.2	.422	.180	.740	2.6	2.3	.6	.3	4.8
2005-06	Phoenix	81	70	35.5	.526	.267	.731	6.9	6.2	.7	1.0	13.3
2006-07	Phoenix	73	59	31.1	.538	.333	.683	4.3	4.8	.4	.5	9.7
2007-08	Phoenix	82	19	28.1	.477	.317	.744	4.6	3.9	.7	.5	8.8
2008-09	Phoenix	22	0	24.5	.567	.357	.692	3.8	2.1	.5	.4	8.3
2008-09	Charlotte	59	59	37.6	.495	.419	.686	5.9	4.9	.8	.7	15.1
2009-10	Charlotte	82	82	35.4	.483	.320	.769	5.2	4.0	.7	.7	11.3
2010-11	Charlotte	82	82	33.9	.492	.345	.683	5.0	4.1	.9	.6	11.3
2011-12	Charlotte	37	28	27.5	.410	.267	.630	5.3	4.3	.5	.5	7.4
2011-12	San Antonio	20	7	20.3	.588	.615	.625	4.3	2.4	.7	.3	4.7
2012-13	San Antonio	75	20	22.8	.539	.385	.723	3.4	2.4	.7	.4	5.8
2013-14†	San Antonio	79	24	25.0	.521	.402	.739	4.1	2.8	.6	.4	9.1
2014-15	San Antonio	81	15	24.5	.460	.320	.774	4.3	2.9	.4	.3	8.7
2015-16	San Antonio	76	4	18.2	.527	.362	.737	3.1	2.3	.3	.3	6.4
Career		991	531	27.7	.496	.342	.716	4.5	3.5	.6	.5	8.9

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2006	Phoenix	20	20	39.8	.526	.429	.761	6.7	5.2	.9	1.1	18.7
2007	Phoenix	10	0	23.5	.475	.000	.667	3.2	3.0	.7	.2	6.6
2008	Phoenix	5	2	35.6	.547	.000	.500	5.6	4.6	.6	.8	14.6
2010	Charlotte	4	4	38.0	.500	.111	.500	5.0	4.0	.3	.8	7.5
2012	San Antonio	14	14	24.7	.514	.500	.750	5.2	2.5	.8	.3	6.2
2013	San Antonio	16	1	17.1	.444	.385	.857	2.5	1.8	.3	.2	4.1
2014†	San Antonio	23	3	26.3	.500	.400	.688	4.9	3.4	.6	.1	9.2
Career		92	44	28.1	.510	.343	.729	4.8	3.4	.6	.4	9.8

Career highs

• Points: 31 @ Minnesota 12/26/05
• Rebounds: 16 2 times
• Assists: 16 @ Golden State 04/14/06
• Steals: 4 7 times
• Blocks: 7 vs. Washington 02/11/09

International career

In 2000, Diaw won the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with the French junior national team. In July 2006, Diaw was named the captain of the senior men's French national basketball team. He won the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 2005.

Diaw led the French team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, with 107 points and 22 assists, in 9 games. In 2013, Diaw and the French team won the gold medal at the EuroBasket tournament.

International stats

Tournament	Games played	Points per game	Rebounds per game	Assists per game
2003 EuroBasket	6	4.7	4.5	0.7
2005 EuroBasket	7	13.7	5.3	3.4
2007 EuroBasket	9	9.3	5.8	1.2
2009 EuroBasket	8	7.5	4.2	3.8
2010 FIBA World Championship	6	8.5	5.7	3.7
2011 EuroBasket	11	8.0	4.7	2.5
2012 Olympics	6	7.7	6.0	4.3
2013 EuroBasket	11	10.4	4.6	3.4

Player profile

At 6'8" and 250 lbs, Diaw is a natural forward. However, his passing skills and ability to score inside have earned him a reputation of being capable of playing all positions on the floor well. This is best seen in the 2005-06 season, during which Diaw started as a bench player, then convincingly subbed as a point guard when starting playmaker Steve Nash (that season's MVP) was injured, then started as a small forward and was finally moved to center when all three Suns pivots got injured, posting impressive stats of 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists in the playoffs despite playing out of position. His breakout season (13.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game) was crowned with the Most Improved Player Award. He is lauded for his unselfish, but assertive play, and his versatility also makes him a triple-double threat: as of March 2016, he has recorded six of them.

Personal

Diaw's 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) mother, Élisabeth Riffiod, is regarded as one of the best centers in French women's basketball history, while his father, Issa Diaw, is a former Senegalese high jump champion. He has a half-brother, Paco Diaw, who was a guard at Georgia Tech, but transferred to Lee University, a small NAIA school in the Southern States Athletic Conference. His other brother, Martin Diaw, played basketball for Division II's California University of Pennsylvania.

Diaw and fellow French NBA star and Spurs teammate Tony Parker are long-time friends and former roommates. Diaw was the best man at Parker's wedding to actress Eva Longoria.

In 2005, Diaw established a non-profit foundation, Babac'Ards, to organize sports activities for Senegalese youth and aid "developmental education".

[ Source: Wikipedia ]