Knicks Forward Posts Monster EuroBasket Showing

The captain Yabusele seemed to always have a clutch bucket in store for Les Bleus, who previously endured an upset loss to the Israelis over the weekend. Half of his historic haul came from beyond the arc, as Yabusele was 6-of-12 from three-point range on Tuesday. A play much closer to the basket, however, proved to be the ultimate difference-maker, as his putback of a Mouhammadou Jaiteh misfire commenced a 27-8 run that turned a five-point deficit into a 13-point lead that proved lasting despite a late Polish rally.

Tuesday's scoring effort from the captain and the newly-minted Knick proved to be a landmark in more ways than one: he now shares the third-highest French-based tally in EuroBasket play with Hervé Dubuisson and Tony Parker and is one of five players in the entire 2025 tournament to have a 35-point game, a brotherhood that also includes Lauri Markkanen, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic.

It was also a national team career-high in scoring for Yabusele, who topped his previous best of 22 from the 2022 EuroBasket semifinals. That prior effort, ironically enough, also came against Poland.

Yabusele's breakout came on a bittersweet day for France (3-1), the event's defending silver medalist: it was revealed on Tuesday that Alex Sarr, the second overall pick of the 2024 draft, would miss the rest of the tournament with a calf injury, though he is expected to be ready for his return to the Washington Wizards this fall.

Yabusele and the French will have a chance to win Group D on Thursday when face winless Iceland in their pool play finale (8 a.m. ET, DAZN/Courtside 1891). As it stands, they have a 16-point advantage on current runner-up Poland for the group win but Israel has the head-to-head tiebreaker if it came down to that method.