The story of new BYU basketball player Dominique Diamonde’s life, which hits the 20-year mark later this month, is spelled out for the world to see on the 6-foot-7 forward’s massive left shoulder and arm.
The tattoos are a tribute to his late father, Seydi, who died two years ago at the age of 58 due to cancer, and serve to motivate the native of Paris as he continues to work toward realizing his dream of playing professional basketball in the NBA.
“Here is a wolf, because my dad called me a big wolf when I was younger,” Diamonde says, pointing to one of several well-done tattoos. “And here are the lyrics to his favorite music, ‘Do for Love,’ by Tupac. I remember him always saying, ‘You tried everything, but you don’t give up.’”“My story is my dad, and who he was. He taught me so many things in life. Everything I do now, when I try to make a decision, I think about him. I think about God, and I try to make the best decision for my life.”
— BYU forward Dominique Diamonde
Diamonde has been in Provo for about a month, transferring to BYU in early May after spending the last half of the 2024-25 season with Washington, where he didn’t see any action and redshirted.The Frenchman said the most important thing BYU fans should know about him is that he has dedicated his life to enhancing the memory of his late father, and won’t do anything that brings disrespect to his family.
“My story is my dad, and who he was,” Diamonde said. “He taught me so many things in life. Everything I do now, when I try to make a decision, I think about him. I think about God, and I try to make the best decision for my life.”
Seydi Diamonde was born in Cote d’Ivoire — a country in West Africa known to many as the Ivory Coast — and moved his family to Paris, where Dominique and his sister, who is now a doctor, were raised until they moved two hours south to a town called Tours.
Diomande’s mother, Christina, is from Italy, and so the basketball star speaks Italian as well as French and English.
“Everybody here is trying to be the best player, the best version of himself, and that’s good,” Diomande said. “But I think the most important thing is to be the best human being. My dad was a great human being.”
Before signing with Washington and former Utah State coach Danny Sprinkle, Diamonde was a professional basketball player, appearing in 26 games during the 2023-24 season for ADA Blois of the France-ProA Under 21 league. He averaged 16 points, six rebounds and two assists and shot nearly 52% from the field.Diamonde represented the Ivory Coast in international play at the youth and senior levels, and averaged 21.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game in five games at the 2021 FIBA African U16 Championships. He played with former BYU basketball star Charles Abouo on the Ivory Coast national team for two years, and against him as a professional.
Abouo was a graduate assistant coach on Kevin Young’s staff in 2024-25.
How Dominique Diamonde got to BYU
When he decided to leave France a year ago and pursue an education and college basketball career in the United States, Diamonde’s best option was BYU, he said, and he was recruited by one of Young’s first hires in Provo, assistant coach Tim Fanning.
Fanning had an extensive career coaching overseas before spending three seasons coaching at Overtime Elite, a league for 16- to 20-year-olds.
But Diamonde had “a ton of problems” with the NCAA regarding his eligibility, having obviously played professionally, and he also had some issues with his math grades dating back to high school.
“So with BYU it was tougher to come here. Washington pushed it through with the NCAA and I enrolled there,” he said. “But my first choice was always BYU.”
While at Washington, Diamonde followed what Fanning and Young were doing at BYU — taking the Cougars to a tie for third place in the Big 12 and to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 — and decided to enter the transfer portal in hopes that the Cougars would still be interested.
