The Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks seem enthralled with their respective franchises. If they aren’t trading players, they’re trading executives. Earlier this offseason, the Knicks hired former Mavericks head athletic trainer Casey Smith as their new vice president of sports medicine.
In the latest episode of Ring-Around-the-Rosie, the Mavericks reportedly hired former Knicks scout Makhtar Ndiaye as their director of pro personnel and international scouting, according to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears . He was a Knicks scout for nine years and played in four games for the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1998-99 season.
With the Mavericks’ acquisition of Quentin Grimes this offseason, the 2024-25 season will be the 12th straight Dallas has had a former Knicks player on the roster. 2013-14 was the last time there was no former Knicks player on the roster, but players like Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington and Shane Larkin would all come to the Big Apple later in their careers.
The same goes for the Knicks, who have employed former Mavericks players every season since the 2017-18 season, although they did trade Doug McDermott to the Mavs that season as part of a three-team trade. They also employed Roger Hinds as their athletic trainer that season, who served as Dallas’ head coach from 1996 to 2004.