Leaning Into It

With their second signing in as many days, the Knicks are showing us exactly what type of team they plan to be.

Good morning! The Knicks made another move yesterday, using the full taxpayer midlevel exception to sign Guerschon Yabusele to a two-year deal, the second of which is a player option. The choice reportedly came down to the Knicks and Nuggets.

Elsewhere in the league, the big news came from Milwaukee, where the Bucks waived and stretched the remaining two years and $113 million of Damian Lillard’s contract in order to sign Myles Turner away from Indiana for four years and $107. Giannis was reportedly displeased with either the decision itself or how the matter was handled, but it remains to be seen what if anything results from that displeasure. I’ll have some more thoughts on this situation later in the week.

Lastly, on the coaching front, per Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Knicks have been telling prospective free agents that they are nearing a resolution to their coaching search. Those two are also reporting that Rick Brunson is likely to remain a part of the coaching staff regardless of who is hired.

Welcome to NY, Yabu

We only have to go back one year to find a time when casual NBA fans didn’t recognize the name Guerschon Yabusele.

Sure, if you were a fan of the Boston Celtics, you might recall a draft pick gone horribly wrong, but that’s about it. Taken amidst Danny Ainge’s run of first round studs that included Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Robert Williams, Yabusele stood out for all the wrong reasons. After scoring just 173 points across two years, he was waived before his third season.

You might also know about Yabusele if you’re a fan of ASVEL Basket, Real Madrid, or the Nanjing Monkey Kings, all of whom Guerschon spent time with in the five years he was out of the NBA.

Odds are though that Yabu first came across your radar last summer, when after a slow start to the 2024 Paris Olympics, he came alive when it mattered most, averaging 20 points in the medal rounds and nearly leading France to an upset win over the United States for the gold.

The performance was strong enough to get him a minimum contract with the 76ers. After a rash of injuries torpedoed their season, Yabu was able to step into a larger role and wound up averaging 11.0 points and 5.6 boards in 70 games. The team stunk, but Guerschon was one of the few bright spots. According to Cleaning the Glass, Yabusele had the best on/off differential among any Sixer who played at least 500 minutes. More on that in a bit.

Perhaps most relevant to the Knicks is that Yabu thrived while playing with a dynamic scoring guard.