Boris Diaw is as eccentric and lovable as any NBA player out there. He's obsessed with space. He's an aspiring filmmaker. He pokes fun at his own weight. And he loves his espresso machine more than anything else.
Who doesn't love Boris Diaw?
Naturally, when you get a Diaw Q-and-A, you're in for a treat. That's what GQ gave us with an interview published on Thursday.
Perhaps the most interesting moment comes at the end of the interview, when Diaw was asked to compare some of his former San Antonio Spurs teammates to safari animals.
Guard and 14-year Spurs veteran Manu Ginobili: "Manu is a leopard. It’s agile, like the way he moves on the court. It’s a very smart animal that ambushes pretty, and is very low key."
Head coach Gregg Popovich: "[laughs] I got a picture that would look great for comparing Pop. You know the old monkey, the one that’s very smart, and is just sitting down. I got a picture of it that would be great for Pop."
Recently retired legendary forward Tim Duncan: "Timmy would be the elephant. Not physically, but more the mindset. Everybody says the lion is the king of the jungle. But I remember watching an elephant walk by one time, and there was a lion there lying on the ground, and the elephant just kept walking and the lion got out of his way. That’s the respect the elephant gets. It’s just quiet, it’s never stressed out, it’s always chilling, because he knows how good he is."
Incredible answers.
In the same interview, Diaw expressed his desire to live on Mars. He said he "100 percent" would make the trip.
Diaw also described how he learned he had been traded from San Antonio to Utah. When the Spurs signed Pau Gasol, Diaw said he knew it was coming. It was not a matter of if but where. As for what Popovich said?
"After the trade was done, he called me and said he was going to miss me, and that it was part of the job," Diaw, 34, recalled.
We'll miss seeing Pop and Diaw together; the pair had hilarious coach/player chemistry.
You can read Diaw's full interview with GQ's Alex Wong here.
