Guerschon Yabusele‘s first season with the Knicks hasn’t gone the way either side envisioned after the team signed the veteran big man to a two-year, $11.25MM contract over the summer.
After averaging 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists on .501/.380/.725 shooting in 70 games (27.1 minutes per contest) with Philadelphia last season, Yabusele’s numbers have dropped considerably in 2025/26. He’s averaging just 3.0 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 24 appearances (9.8 MPG), with a shooting slash line of .400/.295/.600; more than half of his field goal attempts have been threes.
Prior to Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal against Orlando, Yabusele admitted to a level of frustration with his limited role in a French interview with AFP and Basket USA (story via Ouest-France; hat tip to Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops).
“I don’t want to lie to you, it’s very difficult,” Yabusele said. “I’m a competitor first. It’s not a situation I thought (I would be in) coming here.”
Yabusele, who turns 30 years old on Wednesday, played in Europe for several years after a two-season stint with Boston early in his career. He says he’s staying positive despite the difficult circumstances, and credits the Knicks’ supportive locker room for helping him remain upbeat.
“I try to be ready whenever my name is called,” Yabusele said. “I try to control my impact on the court, no matter how much time I get.“
Coming from a Partizan Belgrade fun, he’s a punk
He’s not fit to play in a Mike Brown offence. Also, I feel like last year was the “contract year uptick” season for him.
Oops he got caught being honest.
System or not, he needs to perform. Others are just as equally new to it as he is. Perhaps a trade of underperforming players could be a solution.
He’s been a disappointment trade him in a package for Donte to bring him back. I expected more from him
What universe would the Twolves want to do that in? Not this one. Knicks didn’t want to trade Donte but KAT was more important. Game over. Maybe Donte will come back to NY next time he’s a FA in 2 years.
Jalen Smith for Yabusele? Does that work for both teams? We need more rebounding and interior defense, and they get more shooting with KAT on the bench.
I’m more than fine with that
I’ll take that. He definitely will give us more motion. And yes I believe he can play with Towns.
Great trade scenario. Jalen’s a good 4/5 with a steady jumper and passable defense. Do Knicks have to sweeten with 2nd round pick for Bulls to bite?
I see Yabusele as a good fit alongside Giddey and plenty of minutes available as they’ll likely trade Vooch (finally) this year.
Yes, we’d love a 2nd rounder because we have none at the moment. Knicks have 3 2nd rounders, any of them would do the trick.
The way he played in the Euros. He was scoring and shooting well. I thought he would be an upgrade over Precious. Now I wish we had Precious.
Don’t really know if there is a trade out there for him. Rudy and Wemby know his game. I doubt their teams want him. Sixers might want him back. I would love to get Broome back in a trade.
Looks like Landry is not coming back. So Knicks really do need to adjust their bench. We gotta do something lols.
I’d trade Yabu back to Philly for Grimes in a heartbeat
Man I wish. I give them Kolek too. Unfortunately we can’t resign Grimes. Hes a FA.
Where did you hear Shamet isn’t coming back?
He’s such a whiner.
It was a big swing and miss by the FO to bring GY in with the Txp-MLE. Best case is that another team wants him, and is willing to take the contract into a TPE or cap space without sending anything back. We could probably sign 2 guys with the money that would free up under the hard cap.
There is no trade market for him. Big swing and miss. We’ll have to give up a pic to offload him or a player than another team wants. Nicks don’t have any bench players that any other team would want so therefore the only way an upgrade’s going to come is if they give her to Mitch and attach him with Mitch or if they add a pic. Still want to see New York vs Orlando when they are fully healthy, looking at the game down the line in the playoffs that both teams are healthy. Few things of concern. I also want to see if Detroit can do a minor upgrade. Would love for them to add AD. That would make them the favorites in my opinion. However as constructed New York is definitely the best team in the Eastern conference. However, I have about four teams I don’t think they can be at in the NBA finals. So they are still pretty ways away from the championship
Yeah I agree. They will have to use him as a salary filler. Or package him with some of our young talent. Knicks really need to fix their bench. We need another big now (PF).
Pelicans want to offload salary, so there’s always that hope.
I hear Knicks FO looking hard at Jose Alvarado, who would be an awesome addition.
Yabusele needs minutes to get rhythm. Last season he got big minutes because Embiid was down.
Trade him for Jalen Smith
Good idea