The Philadelphia tallied a major loss this offseason the moment free agent forward Guerschon Yabusele spurned them to head to the Big Apple and join the New York Knicks. But as we all know by now, he did not necessarily “spurn” the franchise, as the truth of the matter is that the front office simply allowed him to walk away for nothing.
Yabusele, who was due for a major pay raise after just making the veteran’s minimum last season in his first season back in the NBA in six years, did not receive much love from the 76ers office when it comes to salary negotiations. As the Frenchman himself revealed, the team did not even bother offering him a salary close to what he got with the Knicks, with which he inked a two-year, $11.28 million deal with.
Now, Yabusele enters a firm contender in East. On the flip side, the 76ers will certainly miss his services, although Philadelphia’s brass managed to respond aptly to his departure, adding the likes of Trendon Watford and Johni Broome, while also bringing in Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow as their new two-way players.
But now, in light of a new development in the entire league, the 76ers adopting the disposition they took with Yabusele suddenly makes a lot of sense.
The 76ers did not want to risk going above the second apron by re-signing Guerschon Yabusele
NBA insider Jake Fisher revealed that the 76ers told him that the reason they did not offer Yabusele anywhere close to what he is slated to earn with the Knicks is that the front office did not want to put the team in a position where it could end up being a second apron team.
With Philly prioritizing the prospect of re-signing Quentin Grimes to a new deal — which has yet to transpire, by the way — the 76ers could have ran the risk of going above the second apron by inking Grimes to a new, lucrative deal and also signing Yabusele to, say, around $5.5 to 6 million annually.
Teams are absolutely trying their best to avoid the second apron lke the plague, as the new CBA rules make it a clearly punitive means to theoretically level the playing field more. It has been a rather contentious detail, but for now, it has forced a slew of teams to shave off huge chunks of their salaries.
The Boston Celtics, for example, traded both Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday — two starters from their 2024 title run — away to shed significant salary off their books. In fact, the belief was that their front office would have done the same even if Jayson Tatum did not get injured and the Celtics made a deeper playoff run.
Of course, going above the second apron comes with a lot of consequences, especially when it comes to dealing with moving parts. And while this may not resonate well with fans who want the Philadelphia 76ers to go all-in, hinging on this as the reason for letting Guerschon Yabusele walk makes their omission much more understandable, if not proper.