The Knicks remember Maurice Ndour’s high motor and rugged play in the Las Vegas summer league last July.
After being outbid by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for Ndour’s services last summer, the Knicks got their guy this time. The 6-foot-9 power forward from Senegal is heading to Knicks training camp on a guaranteed contract, according to an NBA source.
It’s a two-year deal, though only the first year is guaranteed, according to a source.
Ndour averaged 9.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.0 blocks, 1.0 steals and 28.3 minutes in five games (four starts) with the Knicks’ 2015 summer league team. Playing alongside Kristaps Porzingis, Ndour gained some familiarity with the triangle offense and an affinity for the franchise.
“I like the Knicks, I like the players, playing with them in the summer league was really great,” Ndour said at the time. “I hope to see them again.”
The Mavericks badly outbid the Knicks in signing Ndour last July — giving him a full guarantee for last season and a partial guarantee for 2016-17. He then suffered a left leg injury (a stress reaction) in training camp and was waived soon after.
The 24-year-old resurfaced with Real Madrid last season, playing 18 games, averaging 2.1 points and 1.6 rebounds. The Spanish ACB league has become a scouting hotbed for the Knicks in recent years. Four players who recently played in Spain — Ndour, Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas — will be on the training-camp roster.
“God has blessed me with a new opportunity and I will be taking my talents to the @nyknicks,” Ndour wrote on Instagram. “I am very grateful and excited to put on the blue and orange #2 jersey. A new chapter is about to be written. Knicks fans, here I come.”
Ndour, who went undrafted last summer, played at Ohio University after attending Monroe College in New Rochelle.
After Kyle O’Quinn, the Knicks are light on veterans in the frontcourt to back up Joakim Noah and Porzingis. Ndour joins centers Hernangomez and Marshall Plumlee, both also NBA rookies. The Knicks have 14 players on guaranteed pacts, but there’s no assurance Plumlee or Ndour both will make the 15-man roster.
The Knicks still may add another veteran big man and 2016 summer-league standout, point guard Chasson Randle. Wichita State shooting guard Ron Baker is expected to be invited to camp on a partially guaranteed pact, but is a long shot to make the roster.