Charlotte's Moussa Diabaté wins NBA's Hustle Award for this season

NEW YORK (AP) — Moussa Diabate of the Charlotte Hornets was announced Thursday as the NBA’s Hustle Award winner for this season.

Unlike most of the year’s awards, this one was not done by voting. The NBA uses a ranking system that takes nine stats into account — offensive box outs, defensive box outs, screen assists, contested 2-pointers, contested 3-pointers, offensive loose balls recovered, defensive loose balls recovered, deflections and charges taken.

Diabaté ranked 11th or better among qualifying players leaguewide in six of those categories. He also posted career-high numbers in several categories, including points (7.9), rebounds (8.7) and assists (1.9) per game.

Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels was second, Golden State’s Draymond Green — last season’s Hustle winner — was third, Memphis’ Cedric Coward was fourth and New York’s Josh Hart was fifth.

This was the 10th season that the award has been handed out.

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