August 30, 2024
Rob Schumacher/for PhillyVoice
New Sixers power forward Guerschon Yabusele met with the media on Friday morning for the first time since joining the team.
As Guerschon Yabusele dominated in his final games of the 2024 Olympics for Team France en route to a silver medal, his intentions became clear: returning to the NBA for another shot at competing in the best basketball league in the world.
Yabusele, 28, was a first-round pick by the Boston Celtics in 2016. After spending an additional season overseas, he arrived in the NBA but only played two seasons before being waived and heading back to the international basketball circuit. Yabusele bounced around a bit before finding a home with Real Madrid, where he became a vital contributor. Yabusele was comfortable with Real Madrid, he said, but his desire remained to stage an NBA comeback.
And so he did. Yabusele agreed to a one-year, veteran's minimum contract with the Sixers earlier this month, and the deal was officially announced by the team on Thursday. Yabusele had to come to terms on a buyout agreement with Real Madrid to facilitate his return to the NBA, and while the exact terms of his buyout are unknown, there is a strongly-held belief that Yabusele's move was not the most financially lucrative path available to him.
Yabusele met with the media on Friday morning to discuss his decision to join the Sixers. Here are some of the most noteworthy quotes from Yabusele's brief introduction at the team's practice facility in Camden, NJ:
• Yabusele has connections to several former Sixers, and he mentioned two who gave him glowing recommendations of the organization...
"My friend, Timothé Luwawu, played here... Timothé, especially, when I was here before, when he was here, he showed me a little bit of the city. When the rumor came on the internet, I talked to Nicolas [Batum], and he was telling me how good Nick Nurse was going to be as a coach, and the city, the love, the fans and everything. He was telling me how good of a spot it would be for me to come here."
• Many believe the Sixers have a hole at the power forward position that Yabusele could help fill. But Yabusele has the requisite strength to guard well above his height if needed. Is he comfortable logging minutes as a small-ball center?
"I'd be comfortable to be wherever they want me to be at... I will just try to fill in and do the best I can."
• On his familiarity with the Sixers before signing with the team...
"I'm not gonna lie that I watched the team and I was like, 'Yeah I can play there,' because I never knew that I could be here, but knowing from watching the game and watching the team play, I told myself it would be a good match and a good situation for me."
• What Yabusele has improved since his last stint in the NBA...
"I would say first of all, mentally, the way I think about stuff... [Staying] patient, working, learning. I had the chance to go to Real Madrid to learn."
• Now that he is in Philadelphia, Yabusele will serve as a rival to the Celtics organization that drafted him. How does he feel about battling Boston?
"To be honest, I didn't even realize until I was like, 'oh yeah, remember when we played Philly?' We had the things going on."
• What did Yabusele learn during his two NBA seasons that can help him in his second stint in the league, and which veterans did he lean on during that time?
"The experience of being in Boston, even if I didn't have the chance to play a lot of minutes, I still have that experience. I remember speaking to a vet like Al Horford and he was talking to me and giving advice... I had pretty good relationships with everybody on the team. Everybody that was in front of me always had something good to say... Al Horford, Marcus Morris, maybe sometimes Kyrie [Irving], too, talking to me and telling me to stay focused and keep working."
When training camp opens in 32 days, Yabusele will likely be entrenched in a battle for backup power forward minutes that figures to include younger players like Ricky Council IV and KJ Martin. But the structure of Yabusele's role will not deter him from the sheer joy of being back in the most competitive league there is. Yabusele feels like he has always belonged in the NBA. The Sixers have given him a chance to prove it.
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