Guerschon Yabusele thought Knicks journey would be ‘different’ than swirling trade deadline rumors
PHILADELPHIA — Guerschon Yabusele was honest when assessing himself.
“It’s definitely not what I was expecting to [do] coming into the season,” he said before the Knicks’ 112-109 win over the 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “I thought it would be a little more different.”
The Post previously reported that the Knicks are in active talks to trade Yabusele ahead of the Feb. 5 deadline. And in the last few days, he’s made a few posts on X hinting at a potential departure. On Friday, he reposted a post from a French basketball account that said “a trade and a good situation for the captain [of the French national team], that’s all we’re asking.”
Guerschon Yabusele looks to make a move during the Knicks’ 112-109 win over the 76ers on Jan. 24, 2026 in Philadelphia. NBAE via Getty Images
Yabusele played three minutes Saturday and did not score.
He does not have much experience being the subject of trade reports.
“It’s nothing that I can control,” Yabusele said. “Just try to be smart, preparing, [be] as ready as I can. To go out there when my name is called and to give everything on the court.”
Yabusele on Saturday returned to the arena where he broke out and revamped his NBA career last year with the 76ers. That emergence came after a strong showing at the 2024 Summer Olympics with France after several years playing overseas.
“Obviously, my role is different from last year or from the Olympics,” Yabusele said.
This past offseason, he was the Knicks’ biggest free agency signing in two years, since Donte DiVincenzo. He was supposed to be a big part of an improved bench unit, but he’s struggled and largely fallen out of coach Mike Brown’s rotation.
“When we’re healthy, it’s a little tough,” Brown said of finding minutes for Yabusele. “Because how it is right now, our top eight guys are our starters, Mitch [Robinson], Landry [Shamet] and Deuce [McBride]. And if you take those eight guys, I have a threshold of maximum minutes that I like to try to play guys in the regular season. With those, I can’t even a lot of times meet the minutes for them, because there’s just not enough minutes there. Sometimes to factor in a ninth and/or 10th guy can make it tough.”
Brown went out of his way to praise Ariel Hukporti, who played four important minutes in the fourth quarter with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson in foul trouble.
“Ariel, he has been back and forth with the G-League team,” Brown said. “So he has been practicing, playing games, coming here, he kept himself ready. We throw him out there in a crucial time and he was phenomenal for us in those minutes.”
Jordan Clarkson’s tumble out of the rotation continued. He did not play Saturday.
He played just two minutes in the loss to the Mavericks on Monday and only entered in garbage time in the win over the Nets on Wednesday.
