For New York Knicks coach Mike Brown, the assessment of forward Mohamed Diawara was pleasant enough. Diawara was an effective player in spurts as a rookie second-round pick in 2025-26, but he was also more than a little antsy on the floor, clearly finding his way in his first season as an NBA player. The Knicks like his length and versatility, and Brown was comfortable enough with Diawara to play him extended minutes in some stretches.
He played 69 games last year, and got seven starts when the team was struggling with injuries. In all, Diawara averaged 3.6 points in 9.2 minutes, and was clearly a nervous player, but he managed to shoot 36.9% from the 3-point line, raising hopes about his prospects as a 3-and-D player. The one problem: He can’t play nervous anymore.
As Brown said, “He’s one of those players that needs to take a step forward.”
Knicks Coach: Mohamed Diawara ‘A Little Jittery’
That will mark new ground for Diawara, who is 21 and has been playing professionally since he was 16 and living in France. He never averaged more than 5.6 points while playing internationally, so for him to be a productive rotation player for the Knicks will require him to reach a level he’s not gotten to at any level. Even in the one G League game he played for Westchester last year, Diawara scored 7.0 points.
But, per Jared Schwartz of the New York Post, Brown has seen much that he likes from Diawara this offseason.
“Last year, you could see he was a little jittery when he was out there,” Brown said. “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 comfort level now, so his cadence is better, especially offensively.
“His ability to communicate on the floor is at a little bit of a higher level, because he has a better feel not just offensively, but defensively – not just what he should do, but what he should be telling his teammates to do, especially if he’s on the backside or bottom side of the defense, because he sees everything in front of him.”
A role is there for Diawara, but he will have to seize it.
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