For a group that is the defending NBA champions, the New York Knicks will be facing all kinds of pressures when their title defense kicks off against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jalen Brunson, having proved the doubters wrong every step of the way, was All-NBA Second Team and Finals MVP. Can he do it all again, with the entire league gunning squarely for him and his team?

Karl-Anthony Towns has dozens of millions of reasons to feel pressure as he plays for the last big payday of his career. After his playoff apotheosis, OG Anunoby has been touted as an All-Star. Josh Hart, Miles McBride and Tyler Kolek are all playing for extensions or new deals elsewhere. 

But no one will be feeling more pressure than one of the two Knicks under contract through 2029-30. No, not Landry Shamet—Mo Diawara.

An infinite range of possibilities for Mo Diawara

Mo Diawara is entering year one of the four-year contract he signed with New York last season. The 51st pick in the 2025 draft was initially a project but played his way into more regular-season minutes than expected, more than former lottery pick Jeremy Sochan and former first-round pick Pacome Dadiet. Playoff rotations shrink, so Diawara didn’t play much then, outside of blowouts. But his value to the Knicks has mushroomed from last year to this.

As has what that could mean for the rest of his life.

The young boy from France who grew up wanting to play soccer is now 21 and at the top of the basketball world, an NBA champion in the basketball Mecca. Cap constraints and roster restrictions make him the Knicks’ simplest path to meaningful improvement, if he exceeds expectations again. If Diawara plays a bigger role this season in New York winning another title, he’d be a local hero for the rest of his days, and NYC’s got a bigger “local” reach than most places. Diawara would become a global presence.

Not on the level of Victor Wembanyama, but “global” implies wide-ranging.

If Diawara flatlines, regresses, or is traded before he can make a mark at MSG this year, all that goes poof. Even if he plays well, if there’s an injury or an unforeseen possibility to acquire someone the Knicks think will help them more, he could end up being dealt for a second-rounder from Milwaukee, New Orleans or some other team/franchise/city that is definitely not New York City. 

How Diawara performs this year could impact his salary and endorsement possibilities. He’s tall, dark and handsome. If he’s the ninth man on the first team to win consecutive titles in nine years and the first Knicks ever to do it, I wouldn’t say the sky’s the limit for him outside of hoops, but he’d certainly be higher up in the atmosphere than most of us dream of reaching.

If he struggles—or, again, even if he doesn’t but forces outside his control lead to him being traded—he could end up just another Knick who broke into the league as a pleasant surprise before fading to something more pedestrian.

Looking to the past

If you’re old enough, you may remember that a month into Channing Frye’s career, Isaiah Thomas was comparing him to Tim Duncan and saying that if the Knicks had held the first pick in the previous draft and not the eighth, where they ultimately chose him, they’d have taken Frye number one.

Then there was the unheralded Landry Fields. The 39th pick in the 2010 draft came out of nowhere to start 81 games in his first year in the league and finish fourth in Rookie of the Year voting, behind only the top pick from the 2009 draft (Blake Griffin, who missed that whole season with a knee injury), the top pick from 2010 (John Wall) and the fifth pick (DeMarcus Cousins). Fields was one surprise after another.

In his first year in the league, he played 2,500 minutes. He played 1,800 minutes in Year 2, then was allowed to sign with Toronto, where he played 1,700 minutes over three years before retiring at age 26. 

Diawara could step in for an injured starter and earn himself a bigger role going forward. He could finish 11th on the team in minutes, same as he did last year. He could be traded and finish the year in some NBA backwater. He could be a two-time champ and NYC icon, cashing in on whatever kinds of off-court opportunities two-time champion icons do.

There’s no limit to where Diawara might find himself between now and next summer. The best way to ensure the best of those outcomes is for him to play his best between now and then.