French basketball player Guerschon Yabusele, silver medalist at the Paris Games, where his dunk on LeBron James made an impression, should join the Philadelphia Sixers at the start of the school year, barring any major twists and turns, and get a “second chance” in the NBA as he had dreamed.
“We are in the process of finalizing this file, agreements have been reached both on the Philadelphia side with the Sixers and on the Real Madrid side (Yabusele’s club since 2021, Editor’s note),” the player’s agent, Olivier Mazet, told AFP on Wednesday. “We are in the final exchanges of signatures and documents, it could happen by the end of the day, American time.”
The 28-year-old power forward should therefore make his big return to the NBA, he who was selected in the 2016 draft by the Boston Celtics but who had played very little before the franchise, after having loaned him to China, terminated his contract in 2019.
“He played there for two years with a real feeling of unfinished business because he never really had his chance, there were a lot of people in his position and therefore few opportunities. He left the NBA with a feeling of unfinished business,” said Mr. Mazet.
– “I’m ready” –
This great comeback, the native of Dreux (Eure-et-Loir) hoped for it without hiding: “I’m waiting for a second chance… I’m ready”, he said on X on August 11, the day after his monstrous performance in the Olympic final against the Americans.
The muscular player (2.04 m, 123 kg) was one of the unexpected stars of France’s Olympic journey in Paris this summer, scoring 22, 17 and 20 points respectively against Canada, Germany and the United States in the quarter, semi and final.
He particularly distinguished himself with a sensational “poster dunk” on the legend LeBron James in the final of the Olympic tournament, images of which went around the world and are now sold as derivative products.
“He had a magnificent Olympic Games, he really shone and there were some actions and flashes of brilliance which definitively convinced the NBA franchises of his state of performance and his possible return,” explains Olivier Mazet.
Even before his exploits at the Games, his return to the NBA was in the pipeline, after three very convincing seasons at Real Madrid where the Frenchman won the Euroleague, the most prestigious of European competitions, while at the same time becoming a pillar of the French team.
“With regard to the NBA, I have always said: ‘the doors are not closed’. Leave, yes, but in good conditions,” he explained to AFP in November 2023.
– “Sports choice” –
The right conditions will be “a guaranteed one-season contract,” his agent said, and worth $2.1 million (around €1.9 million). “That will give him the option of then extending with the Sixers or signing with another team.”
By leaving Real just before the start of the season, he will however have to free himself from a transfer clause set at 2.5 million euros, which he will pay largely out of his own pocket since NBA franchises cannot pay more than 850,000 dollars (a little over 762,000 euros) in this type of transfer.
“European clubs would have been in a position to offer him more money,” says Olivier Mazet. “But he had the will to prove to everyone that he is a player who deserves to play in the NBA.”
The Sixers’ choice? “It’s a sporting choice above all (…) to ensure that he had a real chance of being able to play,” the agent indicated.
“His return to the NBA marks his desire to settle there permanently,” he added, specifying that the player, currently in the Caribbean with his family, should return to the United States at the beginning of September before joining the team a few weeks later.
vg/fby
