Knicks Nab Yabusele

Guerschon Yabusele and Nikola Jokic were the only other players in the NBA to shoot above 70% in the restricted area and above 39% on above-the-break three-pointers last season.

Yesterday, after breaking down the Knicks' shrewd signing of Jordan Clarkson, I noted that they now needed to target a big body down low to fortify their frontline.

Well, they got a big who can boogie.

New York has reportedly agreed to terms with Guerschon Yabusele to a two-year, $12 million deal. Dubbed the Dancing Bear, due to his unique combination of size, strength and graceful athleticism, Yabusele was coveted on the open market, but decided to leave Philly for NYC.

However, at this time last year, Yabusele was unsure if he'd ever have a chance to return to the States.

Initially drafted by the Celtics with the 16th overall pick in 2016, Yabusele never quite found his footing or comfort zone during his first stint in the NBA. He underwent ankle surgery during his first year with the team and appeared in only 74 games for Boston over two seasons before flaming out and being forced to bounce around Europe and Asia. Yet, Yabusele diligently worked on his game, refining his offensive skill set, improving both his jumper and his approach on the court. He then found a home with powerhouse Real Madrid in the Spanish ACB League.

He continued to develop and authored the best all-around professional season of his professional career in 2023-24, when he averaged 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 made three-pointers per game while shooting over 56% from the field, north of 48% from downtown and better than 85% from the free-throw line. Still, no NBA teams came knocking, partly due to his substantial buyout.

However, Yabusele's stock soared as a result of his breakout performance during the 2024 Olympics in Paris. He started the tournament coming off the bench for the uber-talented French National Team, but quickly made his way into the starting lineup, establishing himself as a crucial contributor for Les Bleus as they powered their way to the Gold Medal match vs. America.

After being inserted as a starter in France's final three contests (a quarterfinal victory over Canada, a semifinal victory over Germany and the heartbreaking loss to the USA), Yabusele played some of the best basketball of his life on the biggest stage possible. During this three-game stretch, he averaged 19.7 points (on 58% shooting) and 4.7 rebounds. He also set the internet on fire in the finale with a poster dunk over LeBron James.

At that point, teams on the other side of the pond were asking if he was willing to cross the Atlantic and start his NBA dream anew. However, Yabusele still had one season left on his contract with Real Madrid, which included a massive buyout amount of $2.5 million. Complicating matters was the fact that the NBA's collective bargaining agreement prohibits teams from spending more than $850,000 to buy a player out of their contract overseas. Yabusele would have to pay $1.65 million out of his own pocket.

So, he'd wait a year and reassess the situation the following summer, right?

Wrong.

"Been waiting for a 2nd chance," Yabusele tweeted a couple of days after the Olympics ended. "I'm ready."

After receiving interest from several clubs in September, the Dancing Bear inked a one-year, $2.1 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Sixers entered the 2024-25 campaign with high hopes, but debilitating injuries to MVP Joel Embiid and several other key rotation players left their season in shambles by Thanksgiving.

There were very few bright spots in Philly, but Yabusele was one, averaging 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 made three-pointers in 27 minutes a night. He was also impressively efficient, shooting above 50% from the floor, 38% from downtown and 73% from the charity stripe.

To Yabusele's unique impact in context, he was one of only two players in the NBA last season to average 2.0 treys and 7.5 boards per 36 minutes while posting a True Shooting Percentage above 61%. The other cat in this club was Karl-Anthony Towns.

Furthermore, the ways in which Yabusele put up points are noteworthy, as he will address gaps in the Knicks' offensive attack. We know OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges can knock down corner threes, but they both struggled mightily when they strayed from the baseline. Bridges, for instance, shot 42.5% from the corners last season, but just 30.5% from above the break. As a team, New York ranked 27th in the NBA in total above-the-break 3PT makes during the regular season and shot below 35% in the playoffs.

Conversely, Yabusele did much of his damage from the area, shooting a wildly impressive 39.5% from above the break on a solid sample size (200 attempts).

How does that percentage stack up against some of the league's premier marksmen?

Above-the-Break 3PT% in 2024-25:
Guerschon Yabusele: 39.5%
Jayson Tatum: 33.7%
LeBron James: 38.1%
Steph Curry: 38.8%
Jalen Brunson: 37.9%
Devin Booker: 33.0%

And when opponents closed out too hard on the burly big man, Yabusele often made them pay by attacking the paint and utilized his freakish combination of strength, length (he has a 7'2" wingspan) and bounce to finish at the rim. On the season, he converted 71.3% of his shots in the restricted area.

Being able to snipe from distance and power through the paint is quite uncommon. In fact, Nikola Jokic was the only other player in the league to shoot above 70% in the restricted area and above 39% from above-the-break 3PT territory (on at least 200+ attempts from each zone).

Per Synergy, Yabusele also shot 79% in transition. The Knicks should aim to push the pace more often next season (a strategy Mike Brown excelled at in Sacramento) to get easy looks before defenses have a chance to set up. This will be far more feasible with an expanded rotation. It's not difficult to envision Yabu swinging from the rim to cap off a few fast breaks.

The Garden is gonna love this dude.

I assume Jalen Brunson was grinning when he saw Shams' tweet that Yabusele was headed to New York. Not only will Yabu help to space the floor and set bone-crunching picks that free up driving lanes, but The Dancing Bear will also be a productive pick-and-roll partner. Yabusele finished in the top-20 in the NBA last season in total points scored as the roll-man in pick-and-rolls, just behind Victor Wembanyama and Mark Williams. Yabu averaged 1.12 points per possession in the P&R. (Among Knicks, only KAT had a higher PPP rate last season.)

On the other end of the floor, Yabusele is far from a dominant defender, but he was able to hold his own for the most part last season. Some of the advanced metrics aren't great, but the Sixers were such an injury-riddled mess, and shuffled through so many bizarre lineups, that it's hard to put too much stock into DefRtg, etc. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Yabu posted the best On/Off differential among all Sixers who logged more than 500 minutes.

One silver lining to Philly's injury woes (specifically, Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond) is that it allowed Yabusele to showcase his skillset all over the court, including as a successful small-ball five. In fact, according to Basketball-Reference, he logged 73% of his total minutes at center last season.

All told, Yabusele at the taxpayer midlevel exception (the deal reportedly includes a player option for the second season), it is another savvy, solid signing by Leon Rose.

With Clackson and the versatile Yabusele coming off the bench, the Knicks' new head coach will have plenty of weapons at his disposal and will be tasked with tinkering/experimenting during the regular season to find the ideal rotation.

News and Notes:

🏀 Assuming the reports are accurate and Yabusele is signing for the full taxpayer midlevel exception, that means New York will be hard-capped at the second apron for the 2025-26 campaign. I'll spend most of my next newsletter delving into the details and what this means for the roster in the future, but the main takeaway is that the Knicks can not exceed $207,824,000 in salary at any point this season.

With 12 players under contract accounting for roughly $204 million (again, we are still awaiting specific confirmation on the Clarkson and Yabu deals), New York is about $3.5 million under the second apron. Consequently, they may not have enough cap space to sign another veteran with two or more years of NBA experience. Thus, they may have to round out their roster (the Knicks need to have 14 players under contract on Opening Night) by signing Kevin McCullar Jr. and one of the second-round picks they have the rights to (James Nnaji, Mohamed Diawara).

The other option would be consolidating the roster by making a trade and taking back less money… More on that in a bit.

🏀 The Mike Brown-to-NY momentum continued unabated yesterday, with Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reporting that Brown is considered the favorite and that the Knicks' front office has been telling potential free agent targets that they're nearing a resolution on their search.

Per CP "The Fanchise," who has been locked in on all things Knicks this summer, "barring any major turn of events, Mike Brown is on his way to becoming the 32nd Head Coach of The New York Knicks."

🏀 Fischer is reporting that Clarkson gave up the exact amount of his minimum salary (approximately $3.6 million) when he agreed to a buyout with the Jazz.

In addition, Fischer noted that the Nuggets were New York's prime competition for Yabusele, with San Antonio and Milwaukee also in the running.

The fact that New York is a preferred destination for highly sought-after players serves as a reminder of the impact that Leon Rose, Jalen Brunson, and company have had on this organization and the city.

🏀 The Bucks shook up the NBA yesterday by shockingly signing free agent center Myles Turner to a 4-year, $107 million deal. To do so, Milwaukee was forced to waive and stretch Dame Lillard, who had $112 million remaining on his contract. The aftershocks from this sequence are still being felt in Indiana and throughout the rest of the Eastern Conference. Are there other massive moves in store? We'll dig in once the situation settles down.

🏀 Lastly, here's my revamped Top-50 free-agent Big Board, with status updates for players that have agreed to new deals:

1. LeBron James / Los Angeles Lakers / Player Option:
Picked up $52.6 million player option

2. James Harden / LA Clippers / Player Option:
Agreed to two-year, $81.5 million deal with LA

3. Myles Turner / Indiana Pacers / Unrestricted:
Agreed to four-year, $107 million deal with MIL

4. Julius Randle / Minnesota Timberwolves / Player Option:
Agreed to three-year, $100 million deal with MIN

5. Josh Giddey / Chicago / Restricted

6. Fred VanVleet / Houston / Team Option:
Agreed to two-year, $50 million deal with HOU

7. Naz Reid / Minnesota Timberwolves / Player Option:
Agreed to five-year, $125 million deal with MIN

8. Jonathan Kuminga / Golden State Warriors / Restricted

9. Malik Beasley / Detroit / Unrestricted:
Currently under federal gambling investigation for gambling on NBA games

10. Quentin Grimes / Philadelphia / Restricted:

11. Cam Thomas / Brooklyn Nets / Restricted:

12. Brook Lopez / Milwaukee Bucks / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $18 million deal with Clippers

13. Santi Aldama / Memphis Grizzlies / Restricted:
Agreed to three-year, $52.5 million deal with MEM

14. Dorian Finney-Smith / LA Lakers / Player Option:
Agreed to four-year, $53 million deal with HOU

15. Bobby Portis / Milwaukee Bucks / Player Option:
Agreed to three-year, $44 million deal with MIL

16: Caris LeVert / Atlanta / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $29 million deal with DET

17. Keon Ellis / Sacramento / Team Option:
Kings picked up $2.3 million option

18. Nickeil Alexander-Walker / Minnesota / Unrestricted:
Agreed to four-year, $62 million deal with ATL

19. Ty Jerome / Cleveland / Unrestricted:
Agreed to three-year, $28 million deal with MEM

20. Chris Paul / San Antonio / Unrestricted:

22. Al Horford / Boston / Unrestricted:

23. Dennis Schroeder / Detroit / Unrestricted:
Agreed to three-year, $15 million deal with SAC

24. Gary Trent Jr. / Milwaukee Bucks / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $7.5 million deal

25. Clint Capela / Atlanta Hawks / Unrestricted
Agreed to three-year, $21.5 million deal with HOU

26. D'Angelo Russell / Brooklyn / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $13 million deal with DAL

27. Guerschon Yabusele / Philadelphia / Unrestricted:
Agreed to a two-year, $12 million deal with NY

28. Tyus Jones / Phoenix / Unrestricted:
Agreed to one-year, $7 million deal with ORL

29. Russell Westbrook / Denver / Player Option:

30. Kelly Oubre Jr. / Philadelphia / Player Option:
Picked up $8.4 million player option - staying with PHI

31. Chris Boucher / Toronto Raptors / Unrestricted:

32. Bruce Brown / New Orleans / Unrestricted:
Agreed to one-year minimum deal with Denver

33. Luke Kennard / Memphis / Unrestricted:
Agreed to one-year, $11 million deal with ATL

34. Luke Kornet / Boston / Unrestricted:
Agreed to four-year, $41 million deal with SAS

35. Day'Ron Sharpe / Brooklyn / Restricted:
Agreed to two-year, $12 million deal with BRK

36. Jake LaRavia / Sacramento / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $12 million deal with LAL

37. Ziaire Williams / Brooklyn / Restricted:
Agreed to two-year, $12 million deal with BRK

38. Moritz Wagner / Orlando / Unrestricted:

39. Malcolm Brogdon / Washington / Unrestricted

40. Davion Mitchell / Miami / Restricted:
Agreed to two-year, $24 million deal with MIA

41. Duncan Robinson / Miami / Early Termination Option:
Agreed to three-year, $48 million deal with DET

42. Sam Merrill / Cleveland / Unrestricted:
Agreed to four-year, $38 million deal with CLE

43. Tim Hardaway Jr., / Detroit / Unrestricted:
Agreed to one-year minimum deal with Denver

44. Kevon Looney / Golden State / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $16 million deal with NO

45. Tre Mann / Charlotte / Restricted:
Agreed to three-year, $24 million deal with CHO

46. Kevin Porter Jr. / Milwaukee / Player Option:
Agreed to two-year, $11 million deal with MIL

47. Larry Nance Jr. / Atlanta / Unrestricted:
Agreed to one-year minimum deal with Cleveland

48. Jae'Sean Tate / Houston / Unrestricted:
Agreed one-year, $3 million deal with HOU

49. Justin Edwards / Philadelphia / Team Option:
Agreed to three-year, $7 million deal with PHI

50. Taurean Prince / Milwaukee / Unrestricted:
Agreed to two-year, $7.1 million deal with MIL