Desagana Diop Named Westchester Knicks Head Coach

NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 – The Westchester Knicks, the official NBA G League affiliate of the New York Knicks, announced today that DeSagana Diop has been named the fifth head coach in franchise history. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Diop, 40, joins the Knicks after most recently serving two seasons with the Houston Rockets as an assistant coach. His coaching career began in the NBA G League with the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks affiliate, in November 2014 as a player development coach. He was promoted to an assistant coach in October 2015. During his time in Texas, two players received NBA Call-Ups including Ish Smith to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Ricky Ledo to the New York Knicks.

Following two seasons with the Texas Legends, Diop was hired by the Utah Jazz as a coaching associate in October 2016. In his four seasons with the Jazz, the team averaged a .606 regular season win percentage and qualified for the NBA playoffs each year. Utah advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals twice.

Diop was originally selected eighth overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2001 NBA Draft. Over his 12-year NBA career, he amassed 1,185 points and 2,219 rebounds over 601 games with Cleveland (2001-05), Dallas (2005-09), New Jersey (2007-08), and Charlotte (2008-13). In 2001, Diop was the second Senegal native to be drafted in the NBA.

Diop was born in Dakar, Senegal, and played for the Senegal national basketball team, last representing his country at the 2009 FIBA AfroBasket in Libya. He was head coach Boniface Ndong’s assistant at AfroBasket last year where Senegal finished third and was elevated to head coach earlier this year. At the helm, Senegal most recently went 4-2 through the July and August FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers.

The Westchester Knicks tip off on Friday, November 4 at Maine to open the 2022-23 season. The Knicks home opener at Total Mortgage Arena will be on Tuesday, November 22. Westchester season memberships and group ticket packages are now on sale. For more information regarding tickets, fans can visit http://www-local.nba.com/westchester/.