About six years ago, then 16-year-old Aliou Diarra was playing amateur basketball on open courts on the outskirts of boyhood village in Bamako, Mali. Funny how he didn’t take the game seriously at the time.
He was looking at it as a game "not meant for men,” little did he know that in a couple of years he would become one of Africa’s top talents.
The 22-year-old center is now enjoying his best days of his career considering his quick rise to stardom in the game, barely half a decade since he started his professional basketball journey with Stade Malien, signed by coach Kaba Kanté, before moving to Moroccan giants FUS Rabat for whom he featured in the 2024 Basketball Africa League playoffs held in Kigali.
Diarra’s incredible exploits caught so much attention of APR coach Mazen Trakh and the entire club management that they started to track him down until they tied him to one-year deal last week.
The star center may currently be at one of Africa’s top basketball teams but only destiny decided his career in a sport he never thought of playing.
In an interview with Times Sport, Diarra revealed that he first played football until he was 11. One coach later interested him to trying hooping and...he never looked back.
"He saw how tall and physical I was and talked to me about basketball. That is how I started playing,” he reminisces.
ALSO READ: Basketball: APR sign Malian center Aliou Diarra
Diarra played on open courts outside the capital Bamako and, little by little, he started loving the game. When he reached his late teens, he drew the attention of Stade Malien, arguably the best basketball club in his country. He then moved to the capital after signing for the club.
From there, his game only got better. He was one of the players who —for the first time —qualified Stade Malien for the BAL in 2023. He went on to help the team reach the semi-finals of the competition on its debut appearance.
Later in 2024, Diarra represented FUS Rabat during the fourth season of BAL.
His individual attributes speak for him considering that he was among standout performers in both 2023 and 2024 seasons of the continent’s premier club basketball competition.
For instance, in 2023, he was awarded as the best defensive player of the tournament while, in 2024, he was named on the All-BAL First Team and All-Defensive Team.
Prior to even playing at BAL finals, he had made notable appearances in professional basketball with Stade Malien in the 2023 Road to BAL games, starring with 11.8 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
On March 18, Diarra had 20 points and 16 rebounds in a surprise win over Rwandan side Rwanda Energy Group (REG), and was named the best player in the Sahara Conference in terms of rebounds and blocks per game.
Having joined APR, the Malian star player is aware of the task ahead as the army side targets nothing but to retain the domestic league for them to qualify once again for the BAL.
"I read in the contract that the team wants to win the league and qualify for the BAL and it is what I want too,” he said.
Some of his game attributes that APR will be counting on include his defense, something that he says he learned much from his coach at Stade Malien.
APR now trail Patriots in second place in the Rwanda Basketball League with 29 points, with three games to finish the regular season.
As things stand now, the army side is all but qualified for the playoffs.
Diarra exhibited moments of brilliance on his debut appearance at APR, scoring a game high 18 points to help the team beat Espoir 94-75 on Sunday, July 21 and Trakh hopes the player can keep his game up as the team’s quest for the championship reaches a crucial stage.
APR will tentatively be rubbing shoulders with its closest championship rivals Patriots, REG and Tigers or Espoir during the playoffs.