Guerschon Yabusele is heading back to the NBA, riding his stellar play in the 2024 Olympics into a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Yabusele has developed into a key contributor for Real Madrid since his first NBA run which lasted two seasons with the Boston Celtics and ended in 2019. The 28-year-old has been a key rotation player, often serving as a starter and playing over 20 minutes per game of the 40-minute matchups. Now, he's back in the NBA and surely looking to stick around for longer.
The 76ers are navigating a buyout with Real Madrid to land Yabusele, whose run with France in the Olympics serves as a great springboard back into the NBA. He averaged 14.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the field for the host country on its journey to the silver medal. His standout moment, dunking on LeBron James in the gold-medal match, was the cherry on top of a sweet performance on the international stage.
While it’s unclear just how much playing time Yabusele will get with the 76ers, he's the perfect type of player for their final signing of the offseason: a physical, big forward who can also shoot from deep.
Guerschon Yabusele brings valuable size, skill to 76ers bench
The 76ers lack size down low at the forward positions. With Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Caleb Martin projected to start, the Sixers will have plenty of capable forwards but none with a massive frame that can stand up bigger stars and fight for boards. KJ Martin is the closest thing to that archetype but at just 6-foot-6, he's somewhat limited despite being a great athlete.
Guerschon Yabusele changes the calculus for Philly. He gives them a rugged, aggressive player that has utility on both sides of the ball.
Let’s start on offense. Yabusele's three-point shooting has come around nicely during his time overseas, greatly rising in frequency and efficiency. Over 64 games, roughly half his attempts from the field last season were threes — and it was his most efficient three-point-shooting performance over a season in his career.
The three-point line in the NBA is further than that of the EuroLeague and the windows will be shorter for Yabu to shoot because of the improved competition. It'll be an adjustment for his three-point shooting prowess to translate back to the NBA. As long as he's not a total disaster as a spot-up shooter, though, he'll have enough shooting chops to be passable on offense. His comfort shooting with a hand in his face will do him well.
When he doesn’t have a shot, Yabusele has flashed the ability to drive, bulldozing his way to the bucket for a layup or a dunk. When he gets the ball on the block, he can spin or step back for a jumper or step through the defense for a shot in the paint. He’s not a great creator given his limited handles, over-reliance on his size to get places with the ball and infrequency as a playmaker. Still, he’s not totally helpless. For a role player complementing a trio of All-Star scorers, that should be enough.
Always watching for the ball when a shot goes up, Yabusele can carve out space for offensive rebounds simply because of how big and strong he is. Even though he’s not the most explosive jumper, he fights hard for boards. Last season, he posted an offensive rebound percentage of 6.55 percent. He posted one of 6.95 the prior season. Only 39 qualified players reached an OREB percentage of at least 6.5 in the 2023-24 NBA season.
Although it would be surprising for Yabusele's production in his second NBA stint to perfectly mirror his production overseas, his blend of shooting and rebounding is valuable, even if it only comes in spot minutes. Round Yabu's 2023-24 stats down to an offensive rebound percentage of 5.0, a three-point attempt rate of 40 and a three-point percentage of 40 and you still only get two players who maintained that rare combination of rebounding and volume shooting for more than 20 games last NBA season: Al Horford and Obi Toppin.
Yabusele's combination of mobility and size earned him the nickname “the Dancing Bear.” It stands out on defense, where Yabusele can muscle up opponents or slide into help positions to make plays. Even when he was a youngster in the NBA, he had a feel for where to be on defense. Yabu will fit in more than stand out on that end but he should be decently helpful in both stopping offenses and corraling rebounds.
Yabu's shooting and size opens up the idea that he could occasionally serve as a small-ball stretch five. He would have to prove that he's capable of being a better defender for Nick Nurse to look that way. But it’s still an option that would open up the floor on offense pretty well.
Having a forward like Yabusele will be extra important given the likelihood that the Sixers' other power forward, KJ Martin, is used in a midseason trade. Martin could be traded for another big forward, of course, but if Philly tries to land, say, a sharpshooter like Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, Yabusele's size off the bench will be even more important. Even if Martin is used to acquire a player who can slide in at the four, Yabu's a nice player to have off the bench.
Guerschon Yabusele said after the Olympics that he hoped to get another chance in the NBA, though the 76ers still had to do some convincing to get him out of his contract with Real Madrid. His role in Philly seems very unlikely to be as big as it was with the Spanish squad. Still, he accomplished his goal of making it back to the league. He's got plenty of motivation — and talent — to stick around longer than a few seasons.
Follow Us
Subscribe