How things have changed for the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks.
By Marc J. Spears of AndscapeThe Mavericks are set to hire veteran Knicks scout Makhtar N’diaye as their director of pro personnel and international scouting. N’diaye, 50, has spent the last nine years working with the Knicks behind the scenes.
N’Diaye is perhaps best known for his two collegiate seasons at North Carolina, where his physical play made headlines during the Tar Heels’ run to the Final Four in 1998. He then played four NBA games with the Vancouver Grizzlies during the 1999 season, making history in the process.
Despite his limited time in the NBA, N’Diaye became the first Senegalese player to play in an association competition. That list now includes 2013 first-round draft pick Gorgui Dieng and current Westchester Knicks head coach DeSagana Diop.
Following his historic NBA appearance, N’Diaye spent nearly a decade playing professional basketball overseas, primarily in France, although he returned to the American court during the 2001-02 season, when he represented the North Charleston Lowgators in the G League (then known as the NBA Development League). Prior to joining the Knicks, N’Diaye was a certified player agent at Wasserman Media Group and is also currently the general manager of the Senegal men’s national basketball team, which won a bronze medal at the most recent FIBA AfroBasket tournament in 2021.
These days, the Mavericks-Knicks interconference matchup is best known for Jalen Brunson’s trade from North Texas to Manhattan in the summer of 2022, which sparked a bit of a war of attrition between the two teams.
Frustrated by the Knicks’ hiring of Brunson’s father, Rick, as an assistant coach before the signing, Dallas eventually filed a complaint with the NBA, whose investigation blamed the Knicks for the loss of a second-round pick due to alleged tampering.
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