New York Knicks sign former ASU standout Ike Diogu
Sep 29, 2013, 8:33 PM | Updated: 8:33 pm
Former Arizona State star Ike Diogu is getting another chance to play in the NBA.
In a tweet Friday, the New York Knicks announced they have signed the 6-foot-9 power forward to their training camp roster.
Diogu has bounced around the league since being drafted ninth overall by the Golden State Warriors in 2005. His most productive season was his rookie year — the 2005-06 season — in which he averaged 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds a game while shooting 52.4 percent.
The 30-year-old forward has seen regular-season action with six different teams in his career. He last played two games with the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011-12 campaign.
He was a key player for Nigeria’s national team during the 2012 London Olympics, and he signed with the Phoenix Suns not long after, but was waived before the regular season began.
New York has done quite a bit of shuffling with its big men this year. Rasheed Wallace retired for the second time, Chris Copeland signed with Indiana, and the team parted ways with greybeards Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas; they added Andrea Bargnani, Cole Aldrich and Jeremy Tyler over the offseason and re-signed 35-year-old Kenyon Martin, who joined the team in February after Wallace went down with an injury.
The Knicks had six power forwards and centers on their roster before signing Diogu. Tyler underwent a foot surgery early in September that will keep him out eight-to-10 weeks, so the former Sun Devil has a glimmer of hope to emerge out of training camp and make the team’s final roster heading into the regular season.
