Guerschon Yabusele’s contract gives Knicks flexibility
Guerschon Yabusele’s contract is expected to land a little less than the full midlevel exception next season, The Post has learned, providing the Knicks enough cap space to sign another player on a veteran minimum contract.
Yabusele’s deal, which can be finalized when the moratorium is lifted Sunday, is roughly two years and $12 million with a player option for the second season.
The Knicks are using their midlevel exception to facilitate the contract, but require $2.23 million leftover for a veteran minimum deal.
They can get that money by signing one of their second-round picks and Yabusele to a deal a little less than the full $5.7 million midlevel for the first season.
Available free agents who could be signed on a veteran minimum deal include three players on the Knicks last season — Landry Shamet, Cam Payne and Delon Wright — along with a host of others like Ben Simmons, Malcolm Brogdon and Javonte Green.
The Knicks have already checked in with Simmons, a source confirmed, although their level of interest is unclear.
Yabusele, a floor-spacing forward, chose the Knicks over the Nuggets in free agency and feels good about the decision.
“I think the Knicks was a great decision,” Yabusele told SKWeek. “I feel like their team really matched my DNA. To fight, to play hard, to be kind of like the underdogs who go and fight every night.”
Yabusele, 29, turned heads with a stellar performance for France in the 2024 Olympics and demonstrated he belonged in the NBA last season with the Sixers. He wanted to return to Philadelphia but was lowballed by his former team in free agency.
A source said the Sixers only offered Yabusele a $2.6 million minimum contract.
“I didn’t have any hard feelings or hard time. But they almost didn’t make really like an offer,” Yabusele said. “They did, but it was really, really low, to be really transparent. So it was I felt like, ‘Oh my god, you guys, it seems like you don’t really want me to stay, kind of.’ So it was a situation.”