The Ukrainian hopes to stay in the NBA and start playing for the Knicks on a regular basis
Ukrainian center New York Knicks Dmitry Skapintsev shared his impressions of his debut in National Basketball Association.
“I did not expect. This is, of course, a surprise, but, to be honest, I found out about this a little earlier, but not from the coaches, but from the agent. I followed the situation in the Knicks, they had two centers injured at once, then they signed Gibson. I was wondering who else they could sign.”
“At first I couldn’t believe it, but then I got over my emotions and realized that I needed to continue working. For the G-League, this is a really common story, when today they sign one player, tomorrow they sign another and they travel two-way, today they can be with a G-League team, and tomorrow they can be in the NBA.”
“These were very exciting moments, because this is the first time in my life, especially in such a place [Мэдисон-сквер-гарден]. It was very exciting to go out onto the court, but after the first half I had already mastered the emotion a little, calmed down and waited for this moment to come.”
“The motivation has not changed, because one game, one minute on the court is not the goal I want to achieve. I would like to stick around and get a place right on the roster. A two-way contract is like the next step in my career in America. Let’s see what happens next.”
Let us remind you that 25-year-old Skapintsev made his debut for the New York Knicks on December 23 in the NBA regular season match against the Milwaukee Bucks (111:130).
Dmitry signed a two-way contract with the Knicks. In the match with the Bucks, the center received a little more than a minute on the court. During the time allotted to him, the Ukrainian made one inaccurate throw attempt.
This season, Skapintsev played for the New York farm club, the Westchester Knicks, in the NBA G League. On average, the Ukrainian spent 18.6 minutes on the floor, scored 5.9 points, made 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
Skapintsev is the ninth Ukrainian in the NBA. Alexander Volkov, Vitaly Potapenko, Stanislav Medvedenko, Alexey Pecherov, Kirill Fesenko, Vyacheslav Kravtsov, Svyatoslav Mikhailyuk and Alexey Len also played in the league.
The New York Knicks (16-12) are in sixth place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
