| Ibou Badji | |
| Position: | Center |
| Height M: | 2.13 |
| Weight Kg: | 109 |
| Team: | Free agent |
| Birth Date: | 13 October 2002 |
| Birth Place: | Dakar, Senegal |
| High School: | NBA Academy Africa (Saly, Senegal) |
| Draft Year: | 2022 |
| Career Start: | 2019 |
| Years1: | 2019–2021 |
| Team1: | FC Barcelona B |
| Years2: | 2021–2022 |
| Team2: | Força Lleida CE |
| Years3: | 2022–2023 |
| Team3: | Wisconsin Herd |
| Team4: | Portland Trail Blazers |
| Years5: | 2023–2024 |
| Team5: | →Rip City Remix |
Ibou Dianko Badji (born 13 October 2002) is a Senegalese professional basketball player who last played for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Rip City Remix of the NBA G League.
In 2017–18, Badji trained with NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Senegal, where he emerged as one of the best prospects in his age group.[1] By the time he turned 15 years old, he stood about with a wingspan.[2] On 27 December 2018, Badji signed with Spanish basketball club FC Barcelona and began playing for its youth sections.[3] In December 2019, he played for U18 FC Barcelona at ANGT Valencia, where he averaged eight points, 8.8 rebounds and five blocks per game.[4]
To prepare for the 2019–20 season, Badji trained with the first team of Barcelona.[5] He spent much of the season playing for FC Barcelona B, the club's reserve team, in the third-tier LEB Plata. On 26 October 2019, Badji had a season-high 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in an 86–77 win over Prat.[6] On 18 January 2020, he recorded eight points and a season-high eight blocks in an 88–80 victory over Prat.[7]
On 4 October 2021, Badji signed with Força Lleida CE of the LEB Oro.[8]
After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, on 3 November 2022, Badji was named to the opening night roster for the Wisconsin Herd after signing an Exhibition 10 contract.[9]
On 18 November 2022, the Portland Trail Blazers announced that they had signed Badji to a two-way contract.[10] On 7 March 2023, he underwent surgery on his left knee and was ruled out for at least eight weeks, thus missing out on playing the rest of the season.[11]
On 6 July 2023, Badji signed another two-way contract with the Trail Blazers,[12] but was waived on 24 October.[13] Six days later, he returned to the Herd.[14] [15]
On 22 November 2023, Badji signed another two-way contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.[16] On 26 December 2023, Badji made his NBA debut for the Trail Blazers in a 130–113 win over the Sacramento Kings[17] and two days later, he put up 7 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 14 minutes of action in a 118–105 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.[18]
Badji represented Senegal at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup in Heraklion, Greece. He averaged 6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game, which ranked second in the tournament, as his team finished in 15th place.[19]
|-| style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Portland| 22 || 1 || 10.3 || .636 || || .500 || 2.3 || .6 || .1 || .9 || 1.5|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 22 || 1 || 10.3 || .636 || — || .500 || 2.3 || .6 || .1 || .9 || 1.5