It's clear that Guerschon Yabusele's tenure with the New York Knicks has not gotten off to the start many had hoped for upon his signing of a multi-year pact with the franchise this past offseason.
Fortunately, however, hope is not yet lost for him becoming a quality contributor for the club at some point in the future -- at least not for SNY's Ian Begley.
During a recent edition of Begley's Mailbag, the Knicks insider discussed the power forward's ups and downs thus far into the season.
Specifically, he highlighted how his conditioning has seemingly not been up to peak levels, citing "the amount of basketball he's played over the last calendar year," such as the Olympics, then a career-high in minutes in Philly, followed up with the 2025 EuroBasket, as major reasons for why he may be lacking on the floor.
Of course, despite all this, Begley still feels confident that "he will turn it around," as the belief is that time will be an ally for Yabusele, both as he gets his stamina up to snuff and grows more comfortable within this new Knicks scheme.
In fact, as luck may have it, opportunity very well may now come knocking over the next several weeks following a recent news break.
Knicks may lean on Guerschon Yabusele more with Landry Shamet injury
Saturday, wing Landry Shamet exited in the first quarter of action against the Magic with an apparent shoulder injury. The news came back quickly, as the medical team diagnosed the veteran with a right shoulder sprain, which, as of Friday afternoon, is expected to keep him sidelined for at least the next month.
One of the biggest differences between this year's Knicks team and the previous regime run by Tom Thibodeau is that new headman Mike Brown is a big advocate for utilizing his roster depth.
With this, there should be no expectation that New York will simply continue on over the next four weeks playing one fewer player within their regular rotation. Instead, the most likely approach Brown will take is one centered around a "next man up" mentality, which could directly benefit the likes of Yabusele.
While by no means the long-range sniper Shamet is known as (was averaging a career-best 42.4 percent three-point shooting clip prior to injury), the 29-year-old is a more-than-capable, inside-out scorer who, just last season, dropped per-game averages of 11.0 points on 50.1 percent shooting from the floor and 38.1 percent shooting from deep while serving as a mainstay in the 76ers' rotation.
Before the shoulder ailment, Shamet found himself amid the best five-game stretch of his tenure with the Knicks, one where he was averaging 15.2 points on 41.4 percent shooting from distance, and that included a magnificent 36-point performance during their exhilarating 140-132 win over Miami on November 14.
Without him in tow, coach Brown will need to try and find ways to make up for these key offensive contributions from other tertiary players on the team, and Yabusele should be one of the first talents to see an uptick in both usage and scoring opportunities as a result.
Frankly, it now appears to be put up or shut up time for the splashy free agent pick-up.