Knicks Forward Among EuroBasket Losers

The New York Knicks have a player coming to training camp with a chip on his shoulder after falling short at EuroBasket.

Philadelphia 76ers forward Guerschon Yabusele reacts after his dunk and foul call | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

New York Knicks forward Guerschon Yabusele is recovering from France's premature elimination at the EuroBasket tournament.

Yabusele captained France, but the nation was shockingly eliminated in the knockout rounds in an upset to Georgia despite winning Group D. Bleacher Report writer Andy Bailey listed Yabusele's French team as one of the losers of the tournament.

"France didn't reach quite the same heights as Spain over the last couple decades, but they're coming off a silver medal run at the 2024 Olympics. And the country has produced multiple top-two picks over the last few years, including Victor Wembanyama, Alexandre Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher," Bailey wrote.

"But Wemby didn't play in this tournament. Rudy Gobert missed it, as well. And the other top-two picks, Risacher and Sarr, both failed to average double-figures. Bilal Coulibaly, another recent lottery selection, contributed just 6.3 points and shot 41.2 percent from the field.

"The future doesn't feel quite as dire as it does for Spain. Most of the aforementioned talent still has a lot of developmental runway. But following up that silver medal with a round-of-16 loss to Georgia is undoubtedly a disappointment."

Philadelphia 76ers forward Guerschon Yabusele drives to the basket against the Atlanta Hawks. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

While Yabusele was far from the reason France underperformed, it's a far fall from where they were a year ago at the Paris Olympics. The silver medalists from a year ago should have been one of the favorites in the tournament, but they failed to live up to those expectations.

Though Yabusele wishes France would have made it further in the tournament, he had a great individual showing before he makes his debut for the Knicks.

Yabusele averaged 13.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for the French in the tournament, which ranked third on the team behind former NBA point guard Elie Okobo and Axel Boutelle.

Yabusele can take the experience he gained during the tournament and apply it to his first season with the Knicks, where he hopes to be part of the solution to get New York a little bit further in the playoffs after falling short in the Eastern Conference Finals last year.

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