Despite the Philadelpha 76ers turning in a very forgettable season, the front office still has some reason to look back to this campaign when they get into the offseason. After all, still with a couple of silver linings up their sleeve, the team certainly hopes to keep some of their players who have been more than decent amidst a bleak year.
One player the 76ers most certainly look forward to keeping is forward Guerschon Yabusele. He has badly outplayed his current minimum deal and now, he looks poised to receive a relatively handsome deal in free agency.
Philly did a slew of moves before the trade deadline to free up cap space and keep itself away from the luxury tax, thinking that they could leverage such to be able to keep their desired impending free agents such as Yabusele, but that is still far from a guarantee. Money talks in free agency, and unlss the 76ers come up with the best bid, another team can always pull the rag from beneath them.
76ers could be forced to stomach an ugly scenario to keep Guerschon Yabusele
Yabusele has been incredible this season for the 76ers. Fresh of a breakout stint in the 2024 Summer Olympics, he was able to seamlessly reintegrate himself into the NBA after a pretty long absence from the big league.
Averaging 10.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and two assists per outing on 50.6 percent shooting, including a stellar 39.2 percent success rate from the three-point line, Yabusele has emerged as a non-negotiable keeper for this team.
Having said that, the more ideal pathway for the 76ers to re-sign Yabusele could entail them making an ugly sacrifice. ESPN’s Bobby Marks laid down what it could take to do just that.
”If Philadelphia retains its first-round pick and [Kelly Oubre, Andre Drummond, and Eric Gordon] opt into [their player options] prior to June 29, it will be $2 million below the luxury tax before free agency begins. The 76ers would then be allowed to use most of their $14.1 million non-tax mid-level exception to re-sign free agent Guerschon Yabusele”.
Oubre opting in would be terrific, but the same cannot be said for Drummond and Gordon. The two veterans have been abysmal for the 76ers to say the least, and really, there are not a lot of people clamoring for a return for either of them.
The 76ers could subsequently trade them, but at this point, no team would really register much of an interest to go through the bother of striking a deal for their services.
Still, the need to re-sign Guerschon Yabusele takes primacy for the Philadelphia 76ers if they want to remain relevant, even if that could come at them absorbing two, stale contracts.