Boris Diaw is an enigma wrapped in a mystery that’s shrouded within a puzzle that’s been caked inside a cryptogram.
But you know this. Nothing abound the San Antonio Spurs’ espresso-englutting, hippo-honoring, wine-worshiping superhero should surprise us anymore. And yet, with each passing season, Diaw proves to be a man of many unknown interests.
For instance, in a recent, and fantastic, Diaw profile by Sports Illustrated‘s Andrew Sharp, we learned that the 6’8″ Frenchman used to fence, in addition to dabbling in other sports, because, obviously:
"So Boris played handball, volleyball, track and field, rugby. Of course he played soccer. He tried fencing too, which is fantastic to imagine now that he’s 6’8″ and 250 pounds. Boris didn’t totally commit to organized basketball until practices forced him to quit judo as a teenager. He retired as an orange belt."
If you cannot imagine Diaw fencing, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered:
Why no mask? Because we’re talking about Boris Diaw, a career adventurist. Masks are for people who fear failure—or who decided to knock back a few glasses of Bordeaux wine blends beforehand.
Anyhow, Sharp’s entire story is worth a read. It dives into Diaw’s understatedly important role in San Antonio, his relationship with his teammates, his interests outside sports (photography, traveling) and the history of the espresso machine that’s plugged into his locker (spoiler: Kyle Anderson is Diaw’s “best customer”).
In the end, reading this story and learning more about all the different sports Diaw played before settling on basketball just reinforces what we already knew: Bobo, not the Dos Equis guy, is the most interesting man in the world.