New York Knicks sign DaQuan Jeffries, Mamadi Diakite to 10-day contracts

The New York Knicks have agreed to sign guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries to a second 10-day contract.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype first reported the news on Wednesday ahead of the official announcement.

This marks Jeffries’ third contract signed with the franchise this season alone, having previously inked a non-guaranteed deal before being waived in late December followed by his first 10-day contract, one he signed along with Jacob Toppin in late February.

Jeffries, similarly to what happened to uber-veteran Taj Gibson a month ago, won’t be able to sign another 10-day deal with the Knicks so if the franchise wants to keep him around for longer then New York will be forced to sign him to a minimum standard, remainder-of-the-season deal.

If the Knicks didn’t sign Gibson to that deal, you can rest assured they won’t do Jeffries either. That’s mostly because this move is simply one the Knicks are doing to comply with the NBA roster rules demanding franchises to carry at least 14 players in their standard rosters, something the Knicks were not doing before signing Jeffries and with the limit to adding a player scheduled for next Saturday, March 16th.

Before joining the NBA, Jeffries went undrafted out of Tulsa in 2019 and he has since played in 60 NBA games. He has been a nice contributor for the G League Westchester Knicks, but that’s mostly it. Over the past two seasons, Jeffries has posted impressive averages of nearly 23 points, six rebounds, three dimes, and one block per game, but being in the same organization as head coach Tom Thibodeau was never going to help him crack the eight/nine-man rotation Thibs likes to use.

When the Knicks announce the signing (expected to happen at some point on Thursday, Mar. 14) they will boast 14th players under standard contracts. Then, once Jeffries's deal expires on Saturday, Mar. 23, the Knicks will once more have two weeks in which they will be able to carry only 13 players before they are once again forced to add a body to comply with the 14-man minimum.

But the Knicks apparently weren’t done yet. Not too long after the Jeffries signing was announced, the New York announced that they had signed Mamadi Diakite to a 10-day contract as well. The 27 year-old forward averaged 13.5PPG and 7.5RPG on the Westchester Knicks earlier this season before signing a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs in January.