Tidjan Keita (born November 30, 1996) is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Guinean Demographics of Guinea describes the condition and overview of Guinea's peoples. Demographic topics include basic education, health, and population statistics as well as identified racial and religious affiliations. Population According to t ...

basketball player who plays

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional association football, football club from the city of Beersheba, Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was estab ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

. He also plays for the Guinea men's national basketball team.

Early life

Keita was born in Paris, France. He started playing basketball in Paris when he was 17 years old. He is tall, and weighs . He has a 7' 3"

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

. He attended college and played basketball at

Cégep de Thetford Cégep de Thetford is a College of general and vocational education (CEGEP) in Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 671 boulevard Frontenac Ouest. It was established in 1969. The Cégep de Thetford welcomes international students t ...

Thetford Mines Thetford Mines (; Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality. The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 187 km east-northeast of Mo ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada.Peter Tardif (October 29, 2017)
"How the Quebec town of Thetford Mines became a basketball hotbed,"
''CBC News''.

Professional career

2017-19

Keita played two games for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

at 2017 NBA Summer League in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada. In October 2017, the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

signed Keita; later the same month they waived him. In 2018-19 Keita played for GET Vosges in the NM1 in France. He averaged 2.6 points per game. In 2019-20 he played for BBC Coburg in

Coburg, Germany Coburg ( , ) is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it w ...

, in the German

ProB The ProB is the German basketball league system, third-tier level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 24 teams, separated into a Northern and a Southern Division. Officially, the ProB is part of ...

. Keita averaged 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

2020-present

In 2020-21 Keita played for

VfL Kirchheim Knights VfL Kirchheim Knights, also known as Bozic Estriche Knights Kirchheim for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany. The team plays in the ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, ...

Kirchheim unter Teck Kirchheim unter Teck (, ; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Esslingen (district), district of Esslingen. It is located on the small river Lauter (Neckar), Lauter, a tributary of the Neckar. It i ...

, Germany, in the German

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

. He averaged 3.5 points per game. In 2021-22 he played for the Noma Iserlohn Kangaroos in Iserlohn, Germany, in the German Pro B. Keita averaged 14.3 points, 8.7 rebounds (5th in the league), and 1.6 blocks (5th) per game. The same season Keita then played for the

Niagara River Lions The Niagara River Lions are a Canadian professional basketball team based in St. Catharines, Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Niagara, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. From 2015 to 2018, they were members of the Natio ...

in the CEBL in Canada. He averaged 5.7 points per game. On August 15, 2022, Keita signed a two-year contract with

of the

, and he has played

with the team since then.

International play

He played for the Guinea men's national basketball team in 2021 in the African FIBA World Cup Qualifier and the

FIBA AfroBasket The AfroBasket (alternatively known as the FIBA Africa Championship, FIBA African Championship, or FIBA AfroBasket) is the men's basketball continental championship contested by the senior national teams of Africa, played once every four years. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Tidjan 1996 births Living people Basketball players from Paris French expatriate basketball people French expatriate basketball people in Canada French expatriate basketball people in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Israel French men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Guinean men's basketball players Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Canada Guinean expatriate sportspeople in France Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Israel Hapoel Be'er Sheva B.C. players Niagara River Lions players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Cégep de Thetford alumni 21st-century French sportsmen