Mohamed Diawara Likely to Remain in Knicks Rotation

In the span of just a few months, all of those up-and-comers have been lapped by an even younger deep-cut prospect. Mohamed Diawara has taken the rotation by storm in taking advantage of another roster hole, filling in as just the backup forward that head coach Mike Brown has needed in consolidating the back-half of his bench lineups.

Now, whenever one of OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges hit the bench or have to miss a game, here's a ready-made shooter and defender with pretty advanced scoring and playmaking feel for someone picked at the 51st spot of the 2025 NBA Draft.

Diawara's Importance to the Knicks

His volume statistics don't hold up to other league-wide prospects who walked into the league with considerably more hype, but he's averaging 45.6% from the field and 41.3% from 3-point range while appearing in 45 out of 55 eligible games. Brown's already been willing to elevate Diawara into his starting lineup at a moment's notice, and he's only growing more effective as an off-ball contributor.

These adjustments are no fluke to SNY's Ian Begley, who sees no reason why Brown would suddenly start losing trust in Diawara.

"Diawara brings 3-and-D, and sometimes a little more, from a 6’9” frame that can man wings or bigs -- maybe not as consistently or poised as you’d like for a contender, but enough to warrant recurring reserve minutes," he wrote as one of his bold Knicks predictions to monitor over the remainder of this ongoing season.

"Giving him burn allows the Knicks' core wings, a group that gets more run and tired legs than most of the team, some relief that Guerschon Yabusele  couldn’t provide and Jeremy Sochan can’t provide."

That's what's been so shocking about the Diawara story; he entered the league with no discernible hype, just another French wing with all-around athletic ability, but he's leveraged his wide-ranging skill set into a stable position on one of the NBA's premier squads this early in his professional career. When his team eventually qualifies for the postseason, expect to see the young wing eating up occasional high-leverage possessions.

His theoretically-common archetype remains a necessary one in 2026, and the Knicks will be sure to continue nurturing his growth within their operation.