The injury-plagued New York Knicks are experimenting with the fringes of their roster. It makes sense for the Knicks to be aggressive with these late-season additions, as they’re battling several other Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls for homecourt advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs. New York has announced via its official Twitter/X account that the team has agreed to new 10-day contracts with forward Mamadi Diakite (his first with the Knicks this year) and shooting guard DaQuan Jeffries (his second).
Diakite had played with New York during its 2023 team training camp, before latching on with the franchise’s G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks. Across six contests with Westchester, he posted averages of 13.5 points, 7.5 boards and 2.5 dimes. More recently, he had been inked to a two-way deal with the San Antonio Spurs, who waived him two weeks ago.
The 6’9″ power forward/center initially went undrafted out of Virginia in 2020. He inked a two-way deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, and emerged as an All-NBA G League First Teamer while playing with the Lakeland Magic, Orlando’s NBAGL affiliate club (the Wisconsin Herd opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns). He was converted to a standard deal to close out the season. The timing proved fortuitous, as he would become a part of Milwaukee’s first championship run in 50 years!
Diakite, 28, has inked 10-day and two-way deals with various other clubs in the intervening seasons, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and finally the Spurs and the Knicks this season. All told, he boasts averages of 3.3 points on 48.6% shooting from the floor and 2.4 rebounds, through 52 NBA games in parts of his four pro seasons. His G League numbers are far more impressive. Through 18 contests split between the Austin Spurs and the Westchester Knicks this season, he’s averaging 14.4 points on 54.5% shooting from the field, along with 8.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.4 blocks and 0.9 steals.
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Jeffries was initially with the Knicks on a non-guaranteed standard deal, but was cut in December. He inked his first 10-day deal of the season last month. The 6’5″ swingman, 26, went undrafted out of Tulsa in 2019. Prior to his time with New York and Westchester, he’s enjoyed two-way, 10-day, and even standard-roster stints with the Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and Memphis Grizzlies. In 14 games with Westchester this season, he’s averaged 22 points on .485/.373/.758 shooting splits, 5.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.7 steals a night. Across 60 NBA games in his four NBA seasons (he only played in the G League during 2022-23), he notched averages of 3.2 points on 43.2% shooting from the floor and 1.6 rebounds.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.