The Philadelphia 76ers entered the 2024-25 season with championship expectations. Instead, it was a season full of horrors for the squad. They ended up with an atrocious 24-58 record. Not only did they not fulfill those championship aspirations, they didn’t even come close to sniffing the Play-In Tournament. A team that fell so short of preseason predictions obviously didn’t have too many positive takeaways (they did get the third overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft). One though was the play of Guerschon Yabusele, who is an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
Rare 76ers Bright Spot May Be Difficult For Team To Retain
Guerschon Yabusele Will Be An Unrestricted Free Agent
Now 29 years old, Yabusele will enter free agency with his value higher than it has ever been. Selected 16th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, he spent just two seasons with the Boston Celtics. Yabusele only appeared in 77 games for them playing just 6.6 minutes per outing.
After his brief NBA run, Yabusele went to play professionally overseas, including three years with Real Madrid. The 6-foot-8 forward began finding his way back on the NBA radar, particularly in the 2024 Summer Olympics. He helped guide France to a silver medal.
Last offseason, Yabusele signed a one-year veteran’s minimum deal worth $2.1 million with the 76ers. After his play this season, he is certainly due for a raise. Per Marc Stein, it won’t be easy for Philadelphia to retain him. On his Substack, he wrote,
“With a trio of Sixers veterans — Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon — all expected to soon activate the player options in their respective contracts for next season, it looks as though it will be increasingly challenging for Philadelphia to re-sign beloved big man Guerschon Yabusele. The former first-round pick from France, who played last season on a minimum deal, is projected to have a strong market in free agency.”
With Yabusele finally in line to receive a major NBA contract, the 76ers may not be the team to provide it to him.
76ers Have Lots Of Salary Tied Into Three Players
Of course, a lot of the 76ers salary is tied into to Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey. It was previously reported that Oubre Jr., Gordon, and Drummond were expected to opt into their player options. Those options are worth $8.38, $3.47, and $5 million respectively.
Philadelphia will also likely want to bring back restricted free agent Quentin Grimes. The 25-year-old was thrust into a larger role with the team due to injuries. In his 20 contests from March 1 on, he averaged 25.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.8 steals.
How much of the pie is left for Yabusele doesn’t seem like much, a reason why he could be on a new team in 2025-26. In 2024-25, he appeared in 70 games (43 starts). Yabusele posted averages of 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists with shooting splits of 50.1/38.0/72.5.
Photo credit: © Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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