The basketball courts and Queens are always busy, but in the summer of 2016, they were

home to some of New York City's most legendary streetball games, thanks in large part to Hamadu

Diallo. Fresh off a big summer on the EYBL circuit, a gold medal run in the Fiba

Under 18 World Cup, and several prestigious

basketball camps. Diallo returned home to his neighborhood of Lafrax City as a celebrity, one of

the nation's top recruits with offers from all the Blue Bluts. Wherever Diallo went, he drew a crowd,

earning the nickname King of New York. At Alamo Day, he threw down a windmill dunk

that prompted fans to storm the court and shut down the game. When he tossed his jersey into

the crowd, kids fought over it. At the Unlimited NYC Nike event, a few weeks later, he scored 47 points.

Each dunk punctuated by an ooh from fans in the bleachers surrounding Kingdom Court.

Diallo was a rock star, and when he pulled up to the Lincoln Park Classic in South Ozone Park in Queens,

a 12-year-old Mohamed Diabate had a front row seat to the show.

The whole park, it was just flooded.

Everyone was waiting for that game.

You had a few NBA guys there, and it was just, it was waiting, waiting for that game. You had a few NBA guys there.

And it was just, it was just, it was a good game.

We seen windmills, all kinds of dunks, a lot of trash talking.

It was just very high intensity.

Once I've seen, I'm like, this is the level I want to be at, you know what I'm saying?

This is the stage I want to play in. To this what I'm saying? This is the stage I want to play in.

To this day, Diallo's performance at Lincoln Park in 2016 is the craziest thing Diabate has seen in a New York City streetball game.

Little did he know it would set him down the same path as Diallo, from Queens to Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut and now Kentucky.

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