There were multiple games last season when Guerschon Yabusele was the best player on the Philadelphia 76ers. That's not a joke, and not an exaggeration; while the Sixers battled injuries throughout the season, Yabu was phenomenal more often than not; hence, the New York Knicks signing him to a two-year, $11 million deal will quickly prove to be the steal of the summer, perhaps across the entire league.
Yabusele earned his shot with the Sixers in large part thanks to a fantastic Olympics showing last summer. Then, he earned a two-year deal with the Knicks thanks to his energy, defensive disruption, and surprising proficiency (38% from 3-point range) in Philly. He was awesome!
But Yabusele did all of that on a team that was a world away from contention in the Eastern Conference, and those low stakes likely contributed to the Knicks signing him to such a team-friendly deal. No one else was paying attention! Yabusele's statline of 11.0 points and 5.6 rebounds is solid, and the eye test was even friendlier to him. He was making an impact seemingly every play and swung games in Philly's favor on more than one occasion.
Guerschon Yabusele remains highly underrated
This year, the stakes have been raised for Yabu. He's no longer playing on a team that's looking ahead to the next year. Instead, he's set to play a regular backup role, on a suddenly deep Knicks team (even after Malcolm Brogdon's retirement), in front of the most raucous fans in basketball — who are guaranteed to fall in love with him by Christmas.
But I think Yabusele will prove to be way more impactful than his $5.5 million yearly salary indicates, and it remains pretty surprising that the Knicks nabbed him at that number. For example, that's the number Paul Reed got, too, and Yabusele will be considerably more impactful than Reed. Day'Ron Sharpe will make over $6 million a year, and Yabusele should play a bigger role than him, too. Bobby Portis got over $14 million, and I don't think he's nearly three times the player that Yabusele is. All due respect to those guys — get your money, kings — but when Yabusele's deal is compared to similar players, it looks even more like a steal.
Point is, the Knicks got a steal of steals if Yabusele can build off a career resurgence in Philly last season, and I see no reason to think he can't. He's the energizer bunny, crowd pumper-upper, pest to opposing teams archetype who will fit perfectly at Madison Square Garden, and if the 3-point shooting remains well above league average, that's just another area he can boost the Knicks' second unit.