Olympiacos Makes Mbaye Ndiaye Signing Official on Two-Year Deal

It's official. Olympiacos announced on Thursday the signing of Mbaye Ndiaye from ASVEL on a two-year contract, confirming the agreement that had been reported a day earlier. The European champion closes its first interior move of the summer following Alec Peters' departure.

What the Greek club is buying is in the fine print of the statistics. The 6'8" Senegalese finished last season as the second-best shot-blocker in the EuroLeague and seventh in steals, and was the only player in the entire competition to appear in the top ten in both categories.

A defensive specialist with a defined role

His numbers from last season were 7.7 points on 69.7% from two-point range, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.4 blocks in 32 games. The numbers of a player who doesn't need the ball to be useful.

Nor does he arrive in Piraeus expecting a starring role. Ndiaye has come off the bench in more than three-quarters of his 68 EuroLeague games, all of them with ASVEL over three seasons, and everything points to him maintaining that role as an impact player in the frontcourt where Olympiacos already has Nikola Milutinov, Tyrique Jones and Donta Hall.

From Senegal to continental elite

His story began at USG Rail in his country, from where JL Bourg-en-Bresse recruited him as a teenager. He spent three seasons in the French club's structure, mostly in the U-21 affiliate, before signing with Blois in 2020. That's where his breakthrough came: in his second year he helped the team earn promotion to the French first division.

He is also an international with Senegal, with whom he competed last month in the World Cup qualifying window. His national team won all three games he played in, against Ivory Coast, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.