Over the past few days, details of Guerschon Yabusele’s free agency negotiations with the Philadelphia 76ers have surfaced. Under the belief that he was low-balled, fans have come out with pitchforks and molotov cocktails across social media and I’ve seen enough. Yes, the 76ers low-balled Yabusele in a technical sense, but it wasn’t out of disrespect and there’s a critical reason as to why those fans aren’t comprehending.
Philadelphia has to save enough money and acquire flexibility where it can to retain Quentin Grimes without any hiccups. Whether it's matching a contract from another team, or offering him a lucrative multi-year deal utilizing his full bird rights, the 76ers having wiggle room is key.
Yabusele chose the safe option
Many of you have complained that Philadelphia was stingy because it didn’t offer Yabusele the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception – the same contract he agreed to with the New York Knicks. If the 76ers did this, they wouldn’t be able to cross the $207.8 million second tax apron threshold at any point throughout the 2025-26 season. So, as you can see, it wasn’t a matter of Philadelphia trying to maliciously low-ball Yabusele or undervaluing his services. The 76ers just aren’t in a place where they can risk hard-capping themselves.
In truth, Philadelphia’s hopes of re-signing Yabusele died because of the drawn-out negotiations with Grimes. The 76ers’ order of operations was ruined since the restricted free-agency market is non-existent. Philadelphia needed to re-sign Grimes before making any further moves since his new deal would determine its financial spot. In all likelihood, the 76ers would’ve been able to offer Yabusele the TP-MLE, but they just needed to secure Grimes above all else.
Also — Yabusele said in a recent interview that the Sixers lowballed him in free agency. He wasn’t kidding. Heard the offer was only a $2.6 million minimum. https://t.co/YgMbMkmVPr
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) July 5, 2025
Obviously, this didn’t work out and all Philadelphia could offer Yabusele was a veteran minimum contract at the moment. This seemingly rubbed him the wrong way – leading him to feel like the 76ers didn’t truly make an offer. Based on the given context, Yabusele didn’t want to wait for the negotiations between Grimes and Philadelphia to be completed. Instead, he wanted to secure a safe contract in New York, which is understandable given the free agency market this summer.
Grimes is playing hard to get
Now, the 76ers are in this weird limbo phase where they can’t make any notable additions until Grimes is retained. As it stands, Philadelphia is $12.4 million below the $195.9 million first tax apron threshold with 12 players rostered. When the 76ers and Grimes come to an agreement, there’s a strong chance they’ll still have access to the TP-MLE to round out the rotation.
Still, there’s a heavy emphasis on “when” as Kelly Iko and Tony Jones of The Athletic reported that there has been little to no movement between both parties, but they’re hoping to continue communication in the next few days. Grimes’ camp seems to be waiting for a team(s) to get more cap space since teams like the Brooklyn Nets are being used as a salary-dumping ground this summer. However, Grimes has zero leverage at the moment since there’s simply not a club out there that can string together an offer that would pry him from Philadelphia’s firm grasp.
Regardless, I want you all to walk away from this article knowing that the 76ers didn’t wrong Yabusele, they just ran out of time. Philadelphia prioritized Grimes and Yabusele jumped the gun to acquire a secure contract. It was just an unfortunate series of events that led to Yabusele’s departure – not any incompetence from the 76ers’ front office.