Makhtar Vincent N'Diaye (born 12 December 1973) is a Senegalese former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played as a power forward and center. He played for the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1999, becoming the first player from Senegal to join and play in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA).

Career

Born in

Diourbel Diourbel ( ar, ديوربل; Serer: ''Jurbel'', Wolof: ''Njaaréem'') is a town in Senegal lying east of Thiès. It is known for its mosque and local groundnut industry and is the capital of the Diourbel Region. The population in 2013 was 133,7 ...

, N'Diaye came to the United States to play high school basketball at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia. He was recruited to play at Wake Forest by head coach Dave Odom, but was ruled ineligible to play by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) because of recruiting violations and transferred to Michigan. After two seasons, he transferred again, to North Carolina. After sitting out the required one season, N'Diaye played under coaches Dean Smith and

Bill Guthridge William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 – May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. Guthridge initially gained recognition after serving for thirty years as Dean Smith's assistant at the University of North Carolina and summing ...

, making the NCAA Tournament Final Four in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. During his NCAA playing career, N'Diaye acquired a reputation for rough play and contentious relations with game officials. In one three-game stretch in February 1998, he was assessed four technical fouls. He attracted national attention for his troublesome attitude during the 1998 Final Four, where he fouled out after only fourteen minutes of play in North Carolina's national semifinal loss to the University of Utah. During the game, he purportedly spat in the face of opposing player

Britton Johnsen Britton Weaver Johnsen (born July 8, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player who played briefly in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He graduated from Murray High School and the University of Utah. Born in Salt Lake C ...

, and claimed that Johnsen had directed a racial slur at him and denied the spitting incident afterwards. Following a national uproar and vociferous denials of

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

from both Johnsen and Utah coach Rick Majerus, N'Diaye retracted the accusation and issued a public apology. After going unselected in the

1998 NBA Draft The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the Tor ...

, N'Diaye signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Grizzlies. He played 4 games for Vancouver in the lockout-shortened 1999 season before he was traded to the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

, who released him before the 1999–2000 season. He continued his career in Europe, mostly in the French league, save for a season-long stint with the

North Charleston Lowgators North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

in 2001–02. He represented Senegal at the FIBA World Championship in

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and played on the team that won the FIBA Africa Championship in

References

External links