CAMDEN, N.J. — By the end of the men’s basketball gold medal game at the Paris Olympics, everyone knew Guerschon Yabusele’s name. The internet certainly did, his posterizing dunk of LeBron James ricocheting across social media and blowing up his phone.
And, the 28-year-old suspects, opening a few doors on the other side of the Atlantic.
“This also helped me, in a good way, to be able to be here today,” Yabusele said Monday in Camden, at 76ers media day.
One fun question begets another. In early August, it was, who is this 6-foot-8, 260-pound guy outplaying Nicolas Batum and Rudy Gobert, and being a royal thorn in the side of the U.S.?
In early October, it’s, what can a player five years removed from his taste of two-way NBA action provide a team with title aspirations at a position of relative weakness?
Yabusele, signed on a bit of a flier at the end of August, isn’t the missing piece in a championship puzzle, but he’s an intriguing addition, someone who can do a job over the long haul of a season where Joel Embiid and others won’t be available nightly. He last played in the States in 2019, his second season with the Boston Celtics. While shuttling between Beantown and the Maine Red Claws, he played 74 games (five starts), averaging 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds. He also logged 16 playoff games at 0.8 ppg. He was selected 16th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft and didn’t debut until the fall of 2017.
The player who fielded questions Monday believes he’s considerably different than the one who got awfully acquainted with the upper reaches of I-95 a half-decade ago.
“I learned a lot about the game, the IQ of the game, the movement, shooting, to be aggressive, being able to have the ball in my hands and make decisions,” Yabusele said. “I really got better at all of those points, and of course, the shot got better, too. I play with more energy now, and I can control the game more than what I was able to do when I was with the Celtics.”
His game has evolved. He’s well-traveled, having spent two years with French club ASVEL, then a one-year dalliance with the Nanjing Monkey Kings in China and three seasons with Real Madrid, which won EuroLeague in 2023.
The power forward has become a positional tweener. With someone like Embiid, he knows he’ll have to be a perimeter player, spacing the floor. With a perimeter big like Victor Wembanyama at the Olympics, he was comfortable living in the lane, his strength making up for height he might lack.
His embrace of the outside shot tells hints at the former, from 0.4 attempts per game in his last NBA stint to 2.7 last season in Madrid. In six games at the Olympics, he shot 6-for-21 from 3-point range.
“With the importance of Joel Embiid on the team, he’s aggressive in the paint,” Yabusele said. “He’s going to draw a lot of double teams, so when he kicks out the ball, I need to be able to knock those 3s down and work on my shot and be able to make plays, too.”
Dunk aside, Yabusele was great at the Olympics, second on the team in scoring average at 14.0 ppg behind Wembanyama. After a so-so group stage, he took control in the knockout round – 22 points against Canada, 17 points and seven rebounds to avenge a loss to Germany in the semis, then 20 points in a gold-medal game he still feels the French should’ve won.
Yabusele is familiar with the 76ers from his old national team friend, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. He’s forged an early relationship with Embiid, a fellow French speaker.
He occupies an intriguing niche. On paper, the 76ers’ starters seem set, and the rotation at four positions seems clear, save some jockeying between veterans and youngsters in the backcourt. But the four spot offers options. Caleb Martin is undersized and defense-first, able to guard a variety of positions and fit into Nick Nurse’s positionless defensive ethos. Yabusele is the more conventional and offensive-minded choice, more physical to meet certain matchups.
“You’re looking at the whole roster all summer long, and you’re kind of thinking, Well, where is a need there?,” Nurse said. “And I think there was a need at the four spot, and that’s what he is. He’s not a three, and he’s not really a five. Probably can get away with playing him at some small-ball five if you want to, but, but he’s a four that plugs in there, and he should have a good chance to impact the rotation.”
