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With their latest roster addition, the Philadelphia 76ers made one of the bigger splashes of the late-offseason period.
After a summer that saw them sign Paul George away from the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency while retaining their own key players, the 76ers are adding French big man Guerschon Yabusele.
“France forward Guerschon Yabusele has agreed to a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources told @hoopshype,” HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported on X on August 18. “Yabusele helped France win the silver medal in the 2024 Olympics. He averaged 19.67 points in his last three games against Canada, Germany and USA.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the deal is worth $2.1 million.
Scotto’s report came shortly after The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Yabusele was in talks with the 76ers amid interest from several teams in recent weeks since the Olympics.
Yabusele went viral after this dunk on Team USA and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Yabusele averaged 14.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 23 minutes per game across six appearances with France in the Olympics.
The 76ers’ roster now stands at 13 guaranteed contracts following Yabusele’s signing.
Former Celtics Draft Pick Joins Rival 76ers
The Boston Celtics drafted Yabusele with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2016 draft.
He spent two seasons with the Celtics, coming over for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 campaigns, averaging 2.3 points on 44.2% shooting and 1.4 rebounds during his tenure. Yabusele was more productive with the Celtics G League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws.
He averaged 19.8 points, 7.9 boards, 2.5 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.1 steals in 17 appearances across three seasons.
Still, Yabusele left the Celtics for Real Madrid in Spain in 2019.
The 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward averaged 9.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 20 minutes per game across 24 appearances for Real Madrid in 2023-24. He had posted four straight seasons of double-digit scoring before that.
76ers Fill Need With Guerschon Yabusele Signing
Yabusele joins a frontcourt rotation in Philadelphia that includes three centers, with Joel Embiid at the top of the list, and a host of wing players.
They lack a true power forward.
Wings Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre, and Kenyon Martin Jr. have all logged significant minutes there, but they are all undersized. And none of them offer the combination of power forward and center skill sets that Yabusele does.
“Yabusele is a low-risk flier for a Sixers team that needed another body at the 4 behind Caleb Martin,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps posted on X on August 18. “He’s improved his shot from the closer international 3-point line; his success in the NBA will come down to whether or not that translates back to the deeper one, too.”
Yabusele is a career 32.3% shooter from deep in the NBA and hit 28.6% in Paris. But he shot 37% in his G League career and connected on 39.4% of his 3.0 looks per game in 2023-24.
Sixers forwards shot 35.4% from deep in 2023-24. Their centers shot 38.9%, per NBA.com.
Embiid did much of the heavy lifting for the centers, shooting 38.8% on 3.7 attempts. None of Philly’s other centers averaged more than the 1.1 attempts per game Mo Bamba did. Bamba shot 39.1% on his outside looks.
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