Guerschon Yabusele leaving the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency was far from a major shocker, but the manner he did it — and the outcome it ultimately yielded — definitely turned heads the moment it was made known to everybody.
The 76ers entered free agency cognizant of their bleak chances at re-signing Yabusele. After all, the front office did not have the sufficient cap space to position themselves well to bring him back, not to mention that the forward raked in a lot of success in his comeback campaign to the point where he would become a popular target in the open market.
Lo and behold, that was the case with Yabusele’s first foray into free agency. But in shocking fashion, the Frenchman did not only leave the 76ers — he also dragged the team through the mud by choosing a major rival in the Knicks as his new landing spot.
Having said that, the 76ers are not without blame for this one. In fact, they made themselves pretty clear about what they felt with him.
The 76ers send a strong statement after letting Guerschon Yabusele leave for the Knicks
Initially, Yabusele leaving the 76ers for the Knicks for nearly the same amount of money certainly came off as a strange decision, especially since it was Philadelphia’s brass that ushered in his return to the NBA after six long years. However, a recent spill now makes his choice all the more understandable.
According to ESPN’s Joe Dumas, while the 76ers definitely had informal talks with Yabusele about a new deal, no formal offers was actually made to the latter, prompting him to not even follow up with the 76ers about possibly matching what the Knicks have offered to his camp.
Yikes.
The league-wide belief was that Philadelphia’s front office was trying to clear out cap space in order to offer more money for Yabusele and beat out offers, but as it turns out, the 76ers seem to have allowed him to seek a new home without really exerting an active effort to keep him in the fold.
We’re only surmising at this point, but the 76ers appear to not have valued him as highly as fans think they should. The 29-year-old was the most versatile player on the team last season, yet the front office decided to just let him walk for nothing, which is certainly far from ideal.
Were they confident about Joel Embiid turning in a cleaner bill of health? Maybe they were banking on Paul George to reclaim his usual self. Perhaps they really do believe that Trendon Watford can be just as good, if not better. Did they want a younger option (although they already belied this with their recent puzzling move)?
Anyhow, the Philadelphia 76ers brass definitely did not see much reason to aggressively try to bring Guerschon Yabusele back. Whether that turns out to be the correct decision is question for the near future, but for now, given their lofty chances of securing him, the idle stance they put on will definitely irk a lot of people.