This past summer, the New York Knicks opted to prioritize improving their bench depth by signing several quality talents on the free agency market. So far, only Jordan Clarkson has managed to stand out in a positive manner, while fellow newcomer, Guerschon Yabusele, has underwhelmed during these early stages of his tenure.
His start to the year has been so disappointing, in fact, that Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report recently went as far as to label his addition as the "biggest offseason regret" the Knicks have after one month of action.
While it certainly goes without saying that he's fallen well short of expectations thus far, classifying him as a failure of a signing so prematurely misses the whole point of why he was such a strategic addition to begin with.
Potential alone makes Guerschon Yabusele well worth Knicks signing
After having quite a magnificent Olympic run with Team France, Yabusele immediately followed his national play with a career-best season in his return to the NBA during the 2024-25 season, dropping 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 50.1 percent shooting from the floor and 38.0 percent shooting from deep with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Such a campaign ultimately made him one of the more interesting free agent role players this past summer, with some speculating he could net himself a new deal somewhere in the $8-$10 million a year range.
In the end, he wound up inking a two-year, $11.27 million contract with the Knicks, a signing that was lauded by fans and pundits alike, due in large part to the bargain of a per-year salary he's set to earn when compared to other players of a similar ilk strewn across the league.
Even with his lackluster on-paper production through this point, nothing has changed about this narrative.
Yabusele was never someone who was going to come in and be a game-changing talent on a nightly basis for New York.
His addition to the roster was more so about fleshing out the depth chart with capable commodities and plus contributors, especially ones who can fill multiple holes within the frontcourt once injuries start to rear their ugly heads.
The last two games in which he saw an uptick in playing time with starting center Mitchell Robinson out (5.5 points on 60.0 percent shooting from deep) have shown that he's still more than capable of having a positive impact on this team, even if he won't blow people away with counting stats.
Against the Mavericks on Wednesday night, while playing 17 minutes, he even led all players in plus-minus at +15.
Though Buckley may chastise New York for using their entire mid-level exception on Yabusele, his salary only accounts for 3.56 percent of the cap this year, and then dwindles down to 3.48 percent in 2026-27.
To put this into perspective, Brook Lopez's new deal with the Clippers accounts for 5.6 percent of the cap, while Milwaukee's Bobby Portis has a payday reaching 8.6 percent of the cap this season and will rise to 8.9 percent in 2027-28.
Even if Yabusele works his way into averaging half of what he did with the Sixers just a season ago while keeping a similar level of shooting efficiency, he'll prove to be well worth the investment.
However, if all fails, it's not as if his deal will prove to be all that hard to part ways with on the trade market.
Regardless of his quiet start, at this stage, the Knicks should realistically have zero qualms about their decision to sign Yabusele to what they did this past offseason.