Dieng is African player of the week In NBA

A number of Africa-born players did really well this past week in the NBA, but Senegal’s

Gorgui Dieng’s two double-double in three games made a major difference for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

    

       Looking at the games played from 23 to 29 November, Bismack Biyombo sparked the Toronto Raptors with 12 rebounds in three games, including a season-high 16 boards in Saturday’s 84-82 victory at Washington Wizards, Serge Ibaka inspired the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 3-0 run, contributing more than 12 points games, however, Dieng, who had played fewer than 20 minutes in six of the team's first 10 games, looks to be back at his best, and he is this week’s SuperSport’ African Player of the Week.

As the Wolves currently hold an encouraging 8-9 record, Dieng has made the most of his increased playing time of late, and could be worth a look in standard leagues if his minutes are upped even more.

  The Senegalese notched his second double-double of the year in Sunday’s 107-99 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

He finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of action.

Dieng's excellent play over the past four games hasn't gone unnoticed by coach Sam Mitchell, who recently praised his pick-and-roll ability.

Dieng has now surpassed the 20 minute mark in seven straight games, during which time he averaged 9.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.6 blocks in 24 minutes per game.

Stay tuned to seen Dieng coming up against Nigerian-American Victor Oladipo’s Orlando Magic on Tuesday night.

                           Victor Oladipo