If the Knicks are going to make a trade to improve their roster before the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline, it will almost certainly include Guerschon Yabusele, the French forward who has found himself on the outside of the rotation in his first season in New York.
The Knicks signed Yabusele to fill Precious Achiuwa’s old niche: a tweener forward capable of toggling between power forward and center behind Karl-Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart. He was supposed to provide lineup flexibility, floor spacing and physicality in short bursts.
It hasn’t worked.
Entering Monday’s matchup in New Orleans against the Pelicans, Yabusele hadn’t played since Dec. 19, despite being listed as out with an illness in only one of the Knicks’ past four games. And when Hart missed Saturday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks with an ankle injury—an opening that theoretically should have benefited Yabusele—head coach Mike Brown instead elevated rookie Mohamed Diawara into the starting lineup and leaned on second-year forward Kevin McCullar Jr. off the bench. Yabusele remained glued to the end of it.
It’s a sour note in an otherwise promising season for the Knicks, who enter the new calendar year just 1.5 games behind the Detroit Pistons for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed.
Yabusele rebuilt his NBA value with a standout run for Team France at the 2024 Paris Olympics, then followed it up by averaging 11 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 38 percent from three with the Philadelphia 76ers last season. The Knicks believed that version of Yabusele, a capable spacer with defensive versatility, could translate to a defined role on a contender.
Through 26 games in New York, it hasn’t. The 30-year-old is averaging just three points and 2.2 rebounds on 39 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from deep, numbers that mirror his diminishing on-court footprint.
The contract adds another layer to the issue. The Knicks used their largest available spending mechanism—the mid-level exception—to sign Yabusele to a two-year, $11.3 million deal. For a team navigating the harsh restrictions of the second apron, that salary now looks less like a depth investment and more like a movable piece.
The Knicks cannot take back more salary than they send out in a trade. And if they’re unwilling to break up their top five earners—Towns, Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson—Yabusele’s $5.5 million salary (with a $5.8 million player option for next season) becomes the cleanest path to facilitating a deal.
From there, the roster math gets more complicated.
The Knicks and Mitchell Robinson failed to reach a contract extension during the offseason, a situation that looms large as the deadline approaches. Robinson has been dominant on the offensive glass and as a rim protector, but if he commands market value in unrestricted free agency, New York won’t be able to match it without pushing past the second apron. Robinson is the sixth-highest-paid Knick at roughly $13 million this season. Packaged with Yabusele, the Knicks could theoretically absorb a player making around $18.5 million, though replacing Robinson’s unique impact at that number would be no small feat.
Then there’s Pacome Dadiet. The Knicks selected him 25th overall in the 2024 draft in part because he agreed to take 80 percent of his rookie-scale salary, a meaningful concession for a cap-strapped contender. But while Tyler Kolek, drafted nine spots later, has carved out a real role, Dadiet has barely played, logging double-digit minutes just once all season. Still, he’s 20 years old, stands 6-foot-9, and possesses the physical tools of a long-term contributor. He earns $2.8 million this season, just under $3 million next year, with a $5.3 million team option in 2027–28. Enough promise for another team to talk themselves into staying on the phone.
As for Kolek, those trade whispers have all but disappeared. The Knicks have found a legitimate backup to Brunson on a rookie-scale deal, making it increasingly difficult to justify moving him unless a true needle-mover is coming back. The challenge now shifts to Brown, who will eventually need to balance a suddenly crowded backcourt featuring Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, and the eventual returns of Miles McBride and Landry Shamet.
The Knicks could ride out Robinson’s contract through a playoff run and revisit everything in the summer—a risky but defensible gamble. They could wait to make a decision on Dadiet. They could continue leaning on their guard depth to keep Brunson and the starters fresh.
What they can’t do is continue getting nothing from Yabusele: neither minutes nor meaningful production.
That reality makes him the clearest pressure point on the roster. And while the Knicks will explore every avenue to improve their chances at winning their first title in more than 25 years, if a deal materializes before Feb. 5, all signs point to the French forward as the salary most likely to move.
