Mohamed Diawara’s Start to 2nd Knicks Year Is Falling a Bit Flat

Thus, Mohamed Diawara enters the season as the Knicks’ most interesting development prospect. Was his three-point shooting real? Could he add more to his off-the-bounce game? Could he become an actual wing stopper? After falling out of the rotation in the playoffs, could Diawara continue to produce against elite competition, in bigger moments?

Speaking to reporters during training camp, Knicks head coach Mike Brown touched on all of Diawara’s positives while also adding, "He's one of those players who needs to take a step forward."

It is in that context that Diawara’s preseason has been slightly disappointing, however.

Mohamed Diawara's preseason lacking a true wow factor for Knicks so far

This is not to make a massive deal of two preseason games or to suggest that Diawara has been a disaster. Yet, anyone looking for some jump from Diawara—for Diawara’s contributions to go from looking like a happy accident to some increased mastery of the game—may be feeling a little letdown.

Through two preseason contests, Diawara has played 30 total minutes. He has scored eight points on nine shots, has not yet made a three-pointer, and has as many assists as turnovers and fouls (three).

Mike Brown, on Mo Diawara:

“Last year, you could see he was a little jittery when he was out there,” Brown said on Saturday. “Because he didn’t quite know what to do and he knew when he did it, he just had to go hard. So a lot of times, he would just play at one speed. There’s a… pic.twitter.com/H8VSU5U1wi
— Jared Schwartz (@jschwartz115) October 3, 2026

Now, a two-game sample size can distort things. Diawara’s first preseason game against the Philadelphia 76ers was a decent showing. Though he missed all three of his three-point attempts and had two turnovers, Diawara also had a couple nice drives to the basket, made a great chase-down block in transition (off his own turnover), and made some good deflections.

Furthermore, just going on the faithful Eye Test, Diawara continued flash moments of having a good feel to the game and the ability to contribute in a team context.

All of which makes Thursday’s preseason loss to the Washington Wizards a little more disappointing. Diawara took just one shot attempt, had no points, and no steals or blocks. He did have one nice driving dish to a James Wiseman dunk, but that’s about where the highlights ended for Thursday.

Brown had told reporters during training camp that Diawara looked jittery in his rookie season and that he hoped to see Diawara grow out of that this year. That hasn’t totally been the case through two preseason games; Diawara, at times, gets lost in the flow of the game and drifts to the proverbial sidelines of the action. Anyone hoping to see Diawara look more confident and aggressive hasn’t yet seen it.

There are already existing questions about Diawara’s ceiling in the NBA. Why did a player with his tools and skillset fall to the second round? Diawara is not a fluid athlete, but not an explosive one. And as analysts, like Knicks Film School’s DJ Zullo have noted, Diawara’s lateral speed is lacking, which could limit his ceiling as an NBA defender.

That was on display Thursday, when Diawara was badly beat on the perimeter by No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa.

AJ rips through and blows right by Diawara and finishes through contact for two. pic.twitter.com/P8999Jj6TY
— Wizards Film Room (@KevinFolliNBA) October 9, 2026

While Diawara is going to get more cracks at making the regular rotation—and again, it’s only been two preseason games—it is also easy to see him getting lost in the shuffle if he doesn’t make his presence more pronounced.

The Knicks’ bench already figures to go nine-deep with Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, Andre Drummond, and Jose Alvarado. Jordan Clarkson is on the fringes of the rotation and proved last year that he can adapt his game to do what’s necessary to contribute and earn minutes. If the Knicks move Pacome Dadiet to make room for another training camp invite, like Bruce Brown, it would only add competition for Diawara to earn minutes.

Part of Diawara’s intrigue is that nobody else on the fringes of the rotation has his physical make-up. The Knicks’ bench runs small outside of Drummond. At 6-foot-9, with long strides and a long wingspan, Diawara has physical tools that others do not. He could fill a meaningful role as a bench forward, diversifying the Knicks’ rotation and lineup options.

It is not nearly time to press the “panic” button Diawara. The same optimism for his future remains. It’s just that preseason has thus far not shown anything entirely different than last year, and if that continues in the coming weeks into the regular season, it’s easy to imagine his minutes getting squeezed.

Get Knicks On SI straight to your inbox: sign up for our free newsletter here.

Add us as a preferred source on Google