{"id":293073,"date":"2026-07-11T07:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/293073\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:14:15","slug":"knicks-mohamed-diawara-doesnt-sugarcoat-summer-league-dud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/293073\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks&#8217; Mohamed Diawara doesn&#8217;t sugarcoat Summer League dud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LAS VEGAS \u2014 Mohamed Diawara wasn\u2019t in the mood to talk <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/04\/sports\/mohamed-diawara-a-key-storyline-in-knicks-storylines\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">about his new contract<\/a>. Or his potential.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His performance in Friday\u2019s Summer League opener \u2014 a 91-65 defeat against the Nets \u2014 was such a dud that the bigger picture was out of focus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got to do way better. At the level we played last season, I got to do way better,\u201d Diawara said. \u201cI can\u2019t play like I played today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Diawara was a massive disappointment Friday, shooting 1-for-9 \u2014 including 1-for-7 from beyond the arc \u2014 as the Knicks were outscored by 39 points in his 23 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.79980469;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39952764\" width=\"472\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/user-expressly-acknowledges-agrees-downloading-134046788.jpg\" alt=\"Mohamed Diawara of the New York Knicks dribbles the basketball while playing against the Brooklyn Nets.\" class=\"wp-image-39952764\"  \/>Mohamed Diawara of the New York Knicks drives to the basket during the game against the Brooklyn Nets during the 2026 NBA Summer League on July 10, 2026 at the Thomas &amp; Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Diawara, who this week signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/22\/sports\/mohamed-diawara-returning-to-knicks-on-multiyear-contract-for-10-million-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">multiyear contract<\/a> after his promising rookie season, was one of two players on the Summer League roster on a standard NBA deal. <\/p>\n<p>The other was Pac\u00f4me Dadiet, who scored 20 points but was an inefficient 1-for-7 on 3s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think they struggled a little bit. We talk about responding to adversity, we got to respond to adversity,\u201d Knicks Summer League coach TJ Saint said. \u201cThey have to respond to adversity tomorrow. They struggled a little bit. They let little things affect them on the defensive end and then it kind of snowballed. So we got to be better. It\u2019s on those two guys and Dillon Jones and me to be better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Diawara showed enough promise last season to warrant a fresh four-year, $11.2 million deal. <\/p>\n<p>Still, only the first two seasons are guaranteed and Diawara will have to fight for a rotation spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As it stands, he\u2019s low on the projected wing rotation behind OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.86621094;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39952765\" width=\"511\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/new-york-knicks-forward-mohamed-125533480.jpg\" alt=\"New York Knicks forward Mohamed Diawara drives to the basket as Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller defends.\" class=\"wp-image-39952765\"  \/>New York Knicks forward Mohamed Diawara drives to the basket during a game last season. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n<p>Diawara offers a unique element because of his 7-foot wingspan, but he understands playing time will require better than Friday\u2019s ugliness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGot to be better. I got to work more,\u201d Diawara said. \u201cIf I keep working, I will get better. I see a good future but I got to keep going. keep working to be at that level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Mohamed Diawara wasn\u2019t in the mood to talk about his new contract. Or his potential.\u00a0&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21,23657,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":["post-293073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-nba","tag-nba-summer-league","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}