And-Ones: Stoudemire, Ndour, COVID-19, Poirier

Veteran power forward Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t ready to end his career, according to Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando. After signing with Maccabi Tel Aviv in January, the big man is close to reaching an agreement to return to the Israeli team.

Stoudemire, who will turn 38 next month, averaged 8.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 17 games with Maccabi Tel Aviv, then captured the Israeli League Finals MVP award after leading the team to the championship. Stoudemire played 14 NBA seasons with the Suns, Knicks, Mavericks and Heat, but has been out of the league since 2016. He has spent time in Israel and China, as well as the BIG3.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Power forward Maurice Ndour, who played for the Knicks during the 2016/17 season, has signed with Rytas Vilnius in Lithuania, tweets JD Shaw of HoopsRumors. Ndour has played in Russia and Spain since leaving the NBA.
  • The coronavirus continues to disrupt overseas basketball, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The Dutch Basketball League has postponed all its games for the next four weeks due to an increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the country, while games in the Ukraine will be played behind closed doors until at least the end of December. The Ukrainian league had been permitting fans to attend at 20-25% of each arena’s capacity.
  • Celtics center Vincent Poirier says winning an Olympic gold medal for France would mean more to him than an NBA title, relays Antonis Stroggylakis of EuroHoops. Poirier made the comments during an interview with the French site Konbini Sports. “I take the Olympic title,” Poirier said. “French Olympic champions are rare. If I’m one of the 12 players who win the gold at the Olympics, I will be a legend.” Poirier won a bronze medal with the French team last year at the FIBA World Cup. France has just two Olympic medals in basketball, capturing the silver in 1948 and 2000.
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