Mohamed Diawara, the forward selected last month with the 51st pick in the draft, is headed to the NBA, according to his former team. Cholet Basket published a social media post on Friday bidding farewell to Diawara and wishing him the best as he heads stateside (Twitter link).
While there are no details yet on what kind of contract Diawara will be signing, the update from Cholet Basket indicates that Diawara will be joining the Knicks, who acquired his NBA rights as part of a draft-night trade with the Clippers, rather than remaining overseas as a draft-and-stash player.
Most players drafted in Diawara’s range will sign two-way contracts, and that’s certainly an option for him. The Knicks don’t yet have any players locked into two-way deals and only have a single two-way qualifying offer on the table, for 2024 second-rounder Kevin McCullar. So no corresponding roster moves would be necessary to have Diawara fill one of those two-way openings.
However, the possibility of Diawara signing a standard deal shouldn’t be ruled out. The Knicks don’t have enough room below their second-apron hard cap to sign two minimum-salary veterans in order to get to the minimum 14 players on standard contracts for the regular season. So, barring a cost-cutting move, they’ll likely fill one of those roster openings with a second-round pick who can sign a rookie-minimum contract that won’t be subject to tax variance.
The Knicks have no shortage of former second-round picks whose draft rights they hold. Generally speaking though, the longer a player remains overseas, the less likely he is to ultimately sign an NBA contract. That makes a recent draftee like Diawara a better bet to fill that standard roster spot.
Appearing in 27 games for Cholet last season, Diawara averaged 5.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 19.6 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .383/.310/.488. While those numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, he was also seeing his first regular action in France’s top basketball league (LNB Élite) at the age of 19 and has plenty of room to continue growing.
Diawara made four Summer League appearances for the Knicks in Las Vegas this month, averaging 7.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 22.3 minutes per game.
Let’s see what this kid can do. He’s probably heading to the G league. The Knicks are barely below the second apron. Knicks is still looking for a backup PG. What ever happened to Jokubatis? Can he help the Knicks? Does he want to play in NBA or stay in Europe?
Trade Dadiet for a pick
I say get Dadiet some minutes. The kid can shoot, and he can defend. The Knicks need those attributes.
Why trade him for a pick when he was a 1st rounder last offseason and didn’t get a chance to really show what he can do.
Keep him, increase his minutes to 10 – 15 a night and see what you have before moving him.
Diawara will most have to be slotted into the 14th (and final) spot on the standard roster. Nnaji is the only other player who might qualify for it (i.e., to be counted for apron purposes at rookie minimum), but I’m not sure how the NYK view him.
The 13th spot will likely be a veteran, and that’s the last real roster issue. I’d prefer a big, but the FO seems to be looking at adding another guard. The only issues beyond the 13th are who the 2-way guys will be. Guessing McCullar, Nnaji and Beauchamp?