Guerschon Yabusele has garnered a lot of attention lately, as he became one of the New York Knicks’ sure trade candidates.
A little after midnight on Thursday morning, the Knicks struck a deal with the Chicago Bulls, sending Yabusele to Illinois. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Knicks are landing Dalen Terry in return for the veteran forward.
Yabusele’s exit comes after a drama-filled week. With the trade rumors heating up, Yabusele was reportedly getting attention from teams outside of the NBA. He addressed those rumors on Tuesday night.
“I ain’t closing no door on nothing,” Yabusele told reporters. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to be. So right now, I can tell you nothing has been discussed or signed or anything like that. I’m a Knicks player at the end of the day. There’s been teams calling. I feel like the report was just them saying they want me, and then everybody thought that I signed something already. No, nothing like that. But there are some teams out there that we heard are getting ready to sign me if I go back that way. We’ll see what happens.”
Yabusele expressed his commitment to the Knicks as long as he was in New York, but he didn’t mask his displeasure with the way the season was playing out for him on social media.
While looking through comments on the KnicksFansTV Instagram account, Yabusele was intrigued by a comment that criticized the Knicks’ head coach, Mike Brown.
“Mike Brown needs to utilize his players’ strengths,” user HakeemWilliams wrote. “He needs at least two post touches a game and the coach has him shooting threes when he has shooting guards and small forwards guarding him. This man can help the Knicks but again he is playing the coach’s system. I am not saying anything bad about my Knicks or Coach Brown. I’m just being real. He is better in the post than most of the bigs in the NBA.”
The veteran forward agreed with the sentiment.
“Somebody with common sense. All good thank you brother, I will be okay,” Yabusele responded.
After a standout season with the Sixers, Yabusele inked a two-year deal with the Knicks, worth $11.2 million. He’s making $5.5 million this year and holds a player option for $5.7 million next season.
Yabusele leaves the Knicks after 41 games played. He averaged just 8.9 minutes on the court, producing 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 39 percent from three. It was a major regression compared to Yabusele’s run with the Sixers in 2024-2025.
Joining the rebuilding Bulls, it’s unclear what’s next for Yabusele. Chicago’s front office has some time before the deadline goes into place. Yabusele could be flipped again, kept around, or eventually bought out. In the third case, Yabusele would certainly have overseas suitors.
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