A big winner of NBA free agency is snatching up one of the stars of the 2024 Olympic men’s basketball tournament. Not long after his impressive Olympics run came to a close with a silver medal and a 98-87 loss to Team USA, France’s Guerschon Yabusele was already looking for and thinking about his next career move.
“Been waiting for a 2nd chance. I’m ready,” Yabusele wrote on social media, with two emojis tacked to the end.
Less than a week later, his dream came true and an opportunity materialized, with the Philadelphia 76ers signing the forward and former first-round pick by their rivals, the Boston Celtics, in the 2016 NBA Draft, to a one-year contract worth $2.1 million, according to ESPN and senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Athletic added that Yabusele was “resolving” a $2.5 million buyout in his contract with Real Madrid, the organization he has played for since the 2021-22 campaign.
Yabusele has not taken a dribble in the NBA since 2019, when he was waived by the Celtics and then took his talents overseas.
Embed from Getty ImagesDuring France’s contest in the Paris Olympics, Yabusele came on as an option for NBA teams to at least consider after also appearing in three games for the nation during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
He averaged a cool 14 points per game, the 23rd-best clip among players taking part in the international event, and helped France keep within arm’s length of Team USA in the final, scoring 20 points on 6-for-14 from the field over 31 minutes of action.
In the second quarter, he even found a way to posterized LeBron James after driving past Kevin Durant and Devin Booker to deposit the dunk.
France made a change and added him to their starting lineup before a quarterfinal game against Canada, and Yabusele proved them right by responded with 22 points and then another 17 against Germany in the semifinals.
“We just want to win,” Yabusele told reporters after the win over Germany to earn a coveted spot in the gold-medal game. “Whoever, we’re going to figure it out.”
For whatever the reason, Yabusele did not make a significant impact during his previous NBA stint, appearing in just 74 games, and starting just a handful with the Celtics.
Yabusele, a menacing 6-foot-8, 260-pound power forward, has a chance fill a role and step into the rotation on a 76ers roster that made one of the biggest moves of the summer in signing Paul George, from the Los Angeles Clippers, to a four-year max contract. While the 76ers also retained Kelly Oubre Jr. and Kyle Lowry as free agents and signed Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon, they are light on options at power forward behind Martin, the presumed starter, which gives Yabusele an opportunity to fight for a spot in coach Nick Nurse’s rotation.
