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CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers decided not to trade Guerschon Yabusele at the 2025 NBA trade deadline.
Teams were interested in Yabusele, a forward who can shoot, dribble and pass while also moonlighting as a center in smaller lineups. Darl Morey decided to keep the versatile forward for the rest of the season. The team has been extremely pleased with the player they scooped up on a minimum deal at the end of the offseason. But they'll have to bring him back to the negotiating table this summer to keep him around for the long run.
“I don't think you can ever be confident in an unrestricted free agent but we feel very good,” Morey said about the 76ers' chances of re-signing Yabu. “He loves it here, we love him. We just freed up more with Caleb's contract going out. We freed up more room in the future so we feel very good about retaining Yabu.”
76ers hope to re-sign Guerschon Yabusele after breakout season
After spending years playing overseas, Yabusele has solidified himself not just as an NBA-caliber player but as a really good one. He has kept the 76ers afloat this season, providing stable production at the center spot, and is still in his prime. Philly chose not to cash in on his value at the deadline, meaning they risk losing him for nothing.
This offseason, the 76ers will have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, projected by capsheets.com to be worth $14.1 million. Contracts using that exception can last up to four years, so Philly should have ample space to keep Yabusele. However, using that exception will create a hard cap at the first apron, meaning they cannot exceed that salary amount for the rest of the league year.
According to capsheets.com, the Sixers will be working with just over $25 million of space below the first apron. That gives them plenty of space to re-sign Yabusele but not much more room to do anything else. And that space will be eaten into if the Sixers sign undrafted rookie Justin Edwards to a standard contract or if they use their 2025 second-round pick, adding another rookie deal. Neither contract will be very big but will squeeze Philly's books a little tighter.
The Sixers could have more space to operate under the first apron if they move on from the non-guaranteed contract of Ricky Council IV or the partially guaranteed contract of Adem Bona, but that would mean losing young, promising players for nothing. The player options of Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.38 million), Andre Drummond ($5 million) and Eric Gordon ($3.45 million) will also be a factor, though not one that the Sixers can control unless they find a way to trade them away.
“I think that's something we just have to map out,” Morey said regarding the non-taxpayer MLE and potentially using it to retain Yabusele. “I haven't thought about that one as much. But the reality is we knew prior to the deadline, we had less ability to retain and [post-deadline], we have more ability to retain.”
If the Sixers can’t shed more salary, it may be very hard to retain Guerschon Yabusele and Quentin Grimes, their marquee addition at the trade deadline. Operating under the first apron will be tough. The team seems to believe that retaining a player as good as Yabusele is worth it.
