The New York Knicks have made their first trade of the season, reportedly sending Guerschon Yabusele to the Chicago Bulls for Dalen Terry. The Knicks had been trying to get out of Yabusele's player option for next season; the Bulls had a surplus of guards and needed some help in the frontcourt. Terry's expiring deal gives New York their flexibility back, allowing them to move on in the offseason like nothing ever happened.
Knicks find Yabusele a new home before trade deadline
The trade sending the 30-year-old Frenchman to Chicago had been in the works, to an extent, for quite some time. The Knicks discovered early on in the season that Yabusele was not a great fit with new head coach Mike Brown.
Out of fairness to both parties, in both player and coach, the Knicks agreed to terms with Yabusele almost a full week before Brown's hire was announced. The head coach said early on in the preseason that both Yabusele and All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns would have the longest adjustment periods with regard to settling into his system, given that they had to learn two positions (power forward and center) each.
That adjustment never truly happened for Yabusele, who was able to contribute with spurts of scoring and energy but never consistently as a part of the team's rotation. Brown explained his lack of involvement early on in the season as an unfortunate byproduct of his desire to play nine-and-a-half players, with the Frenchman often seeing first half minutes before sitting for the night.
As the season progressed, though, Yabusele's role shrunk from situational to nonexistent. He hasn't played since January 30, with it apparently being clear to everyone with the Knicks that his time with the organization was limited. Now, the Knicks have Terry on their roster. It's unlikely that they extend him a $7.7 million qualifying offer in the offseason, so he'll be set to enter the free agent market.
Terry has never put it all together for the Bulls, and the Knicks may very well still flip him ahead of the deadline. In the event that he does stay in New York for the remainder of the season, though, he might make appearances late in lopsided games and be in line to temporarily join the rotation in case of injury.
Yabusele will stay in Eastern Conference, not agree to buy-out
One Knicks insider did make clear in the wake of this trade that the Bulls aren't planning to buy Yabusele out of his contract. SNY's Ian Begley tweeted shortly after the news broke that Chicago would be keeping the 30-year-old veteran.
Especially after acquiring Jaden Ivey and Collin Sexton in recent days, the Bulls have a surplus of guards. Yabusele will get an opportunity to go play with those guards, providing them creation relief with his post scoring.