The Knicks didn’t have a lot of financial flexibility coming into the 2025 offseason but will still manage to come away with a pair of players who figure to play rotation minutes in Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele.
Yabusele had been linked to the Nuggets, Spurs, and Bucks before ultimately agreeing to a two-year, $11.7MM deal with New York. Speaking during an interview with SKWEEK TV about his decision-making process, Yabusele said part of the appeal came from what he saw when he faced the Knicks last season as a member of the Sixers.
“It’s a couple of teams that we play against, and I was looking at them, like, ‘Oh my God, this team plays good together. They’re a good team. I can tell it’s a good group of guys, there’s no bad guys, there’s no problems,'” Yabusele said (Twitter video link). “And I was looking at them like, ‘Oh my God, this could be like a good chance and opportunity to play there.'”
Beyond the cohesiveness, Yabusele spoke about feeling that the fit was the right one.
“I feel like their team, it really [matches] my DNA, I would say, to fight, to play hard, to be the underdogs, to go and fight every night,” he added.
Yabusele came to Philadelphia last season after spending the previous five years in Europe. Playing for the injury-riddled Sixers, he averaged 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while making 50.1% of his shots from the field (38.0% of his three-pointers) and starting 43 of his 70 outings.
The 6’8″ forward proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season and was open to returning to the 76ers. However, he revealed in his SKWEEK TV interview that the offer he received from Philadelphia wasn’t as competitive as what he might have expected.
“I didn’t really have any issues over there… I was like, ‘Okay, if they want to re-sign me, and then they give me something good, I will come back for sure. And if they want me to leave, then I will leave,'” Yabusele said (Twitter video link). “But they almost didn’t make, really, like an offer. They did, but it was really, really, low, to be really transparent… so I feel like, ‘Oh my god, you guys don’t really want me to stay.'”
The Sixers, who only held Non-Bird rights on Yabusele, could theoretically have dipped into their mid-level exception like New York did to make him an offer. However, their ability to re-sign the Frenchman was impacted by their negotiations with restricted free agent Quentin Grimes — if Grimes gets a significant raise, Philadelphia’s team salary could be in second-apron territory, compromising their ability to use any portion of that MLE.
Despite what he considered to be a low-ball offer, Yabusele emphasized his gratitude to the Sixers for giving him his second chance at playing in the NBA.
“I will always be thankful to be able to be part of their franchise,” he said. “Me and my family [are] really happy about everything they did for us.”
Yabusele will now go to a Knicks team with a new head coach and championship aspirations, where his versatile offensive game should complement New York’s incumbent big men.
RFA’s left right now like grimes and giddey really can only stay with their previous teams because everyone else has already spent everything, it’s not like baseball where the dodgers can pick up all of the scraps
The salary cap and existence of restricted free agency makes the NBA way less interesting than it could be
There is literally no reason guys who fulfill an entire roomie deal shouldn’t hit UFA status
It’s just so laughably bad
GY is talking about the NYK team culture that was developed under Thibs. Who knows what will develop under their new HC. Anyway, I wasn’t sure about his fit on the court, but it appears he wants to fit off of it, which is a good start.
Pretty sure Thibs didn’t go to Villanova
The NYK culture was already 2 years in the making when the first Villanova guy (Brunson) arrived. If you paid attention, you’d know that.
Nobody was talking about the team’s culture when Reggie Bullock, Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier etc were on the team.
Thibs gave the Knicks credibility and a foundation, but they focused on adding the right mix of players over the years.
I think what he was really talking about was that Philadelphia have atleast a couple of bad lockers room guys. He doesn’t know the knicks players personally, he only knows the Sixers.
He doesn’t need to know them personally or individually. When you play against a team that has one heartbeat, it’s readily appparent after one game and often doesn’t take the entire game.
I never saw him returning. He outplayed his contract and Sixers aren’t paying more than the minimum for what he does. Thats why they signed Watford and he might be better on a 2 year minimum.
He shoots better than Precious. Really very similar players. I think he will bring the energy. And NY crowd will support him for that. So he can help Knicks. I’m good with it ….
I imagine NY will love him and his personality and effort. I miss him already.
Yeah, that’s how the Dodgers have built a long standing, championship winning caliber team. By picking up all the scraps after everyone else has signed. LMAO
Huh? What do you mean? The Giants and Dodgers how been to same number of WS over the past 25 years. The Giants have won more. Sabean was genius a finding scrap heap players. He was always able to trade minor league players, that will never make it to the majors, for everyday players. He sucked at building a farm system.
OK, but where do the Dodgers stand with respect to the second apron?