Diabate (illness) is available for Friday's game against the Bulls. Diabate will play through an illness for the Hornets on Friday, and he's in line to make his first appearance in the NBA since a Dec.

Phoenix Suns (16-18, 12th in the Western Conference) vs. Charlotte Hornets (7-27 ... Charlotte leads the Eastern Conference in rebounding, averaging 45.9 boards. Moussa Diabate paces the Hornets with 6.8 rebounds. The Suns are 6-10 in road games.

The Phoenix Suns have made a trade. No, not that trade. Jimmy Butler remains a member of the Miami Heat for the time being, but even as the Suns continue to try to pry him away, they have managed to make a deal of another sort by acquiring Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards along with a 2025 Denver Nuggets second-round pick for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks: two from the Nuggets (2026 and 2031) along with a Suns original (2031).

Nick Richards walking out the door opens up a world of possibilities for Moussa Diabate. The center on a two-way deal made waves with his early season output as he tormented opposing big men on the boards with relentless energy and inch perfect positioning on long rebounds.

The Charlotte Hornets are back in action tonight at 9:30 pm EST. They have one more road game before returning home, and it's against the Chicago Bulls. This game will cap a very eventful trip away from home,

Led by Dominique Daniels Jr.'s 17 points, the California Baptist Lancers defeated the Abilene Christian Wildcats 60-54.

St. Louis Blues (21-20-4, in the Central Division) St. Louis; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Blues and the Calgary Flames square off in Western Conference action. St. Louis is 21 ...

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The battle of the second and third-ranked teams in the Western Conference features some of the league's up-and-coming franchises. The third-seeded Memphis Grizzlies are an established squad built ...

New Orleans Pelicans (8-32, 15th in the Western Conference) vs. Chicago Bulls (18-21, 10th in the Eastern Conference) Chicago; Tuesday, 8 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Nikola Vucevic and the Chicago Bulls ...

Diabate hasn't seen action at the NBA level since Dec. 30, though there could be some minutes coming in his future with Nick Richards now in Phoenix. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc.

Who wants the final wild-card berth in the Western Conference playoff race? Past the halfway part of the regular season, and with the trade deadline approaching, the Western Conference has seen ...