The New York Knicks only have one rookie on their roster this season. The honor belongs to Mohamed Diawara, the lanky French forward they took with the 51st overall pick in last offseason's draft, one of the last selections in the second round. Diawara has been sneakily climbing head coach Mike Brown's nice list as the 2025 holiday season approaches. He's been continually seeing more time on the court, with the 20-year-old in line to play huge minutes on Tuesday.
Brown keeps trusting Diawara (when he can)
With the Knicks in the middle of a championship-contending window, it's not going to be easy for Brown to get a 20-year-old rookie consistent minutes. He's barely getting them to offseason add Guerschon Yabusele, whose trade availability surfaced in reports just one week after he became eligible to be moved.
When the Knicks' new head coach can play younger players, however, he's always made sure to get Diawara some burn. And recently, he's starting to prioritize him over other members of the team's young core. Although he's the least NBA-experienced player on the roster, he's not the youngest: that would be Pacôme Dadiet.
Brown began the preseason deferring to Dadiet, who spent last season developing with the organization between the main roster and the team's Westchester G-League affiliate. However, just a couple of months into the season, Diawara seems to have jumped Dadiet in the pecking order.
Last week's bout with the Indiana Pacers was the Knicks' first game after their extended trip out west to compete for – and win – the NBA Cup. As a result, several key starters got to rest. That cleared the way for two third-string Knicks to get spot starts, given Brown's penchant for elevating reserves as a means of leaving at least his second unit untouched when temporary change is needed.
Second-year center Ariel Hukporti, whose praises Brown has sung since preseason, started and impressed at center. Instead of Dadiet, though, it was Diawara who was elevated to the starting group on that Thursday. With Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Yabusele having been ruled out on Monday for the team's Tuesday-night game against the Timberwolves, it would not be surprising to see Brown give Diawara another nod.
While the Knicks have a premier wing duo with Mikal Bridges and Anunoby, an NBA team of any caliber can never have too many wings and contending teams can never have enough bites at the apple when it comes to one of the most valuable archetypes of playoff contributor. The Knicks may have struck relative gold late in the second round with Diawara, whose all-around game looks like it could stick around in the pros.