It’s no secret the Sixers haven’t exactly had the best start to the season. Down two of their three best players, Joel Embiid and Paul George, the team has had to fight an uphill battle for every possession, every basket, and for their first win of the season against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
The good news? These Sixers are a team full of fighters. And perhaps nobody exemplifies that better than Guerschon Yabusele.
In his return to the NBA, the 28-year-old power forward has been asked to do a whole lot. In three games thus far, he’s averaged 20 minutes a night – a far cry from the 6-7 minutes he averaged over two seasons with the Boston Celtics. With Paul George out, the Sixers have relied on their remaining wings to take on bigger roles – shooting more threes, nabbing more rebounds, and guarding bigger guys than they’re used to.
Without Embiid on the court drawing double teams and forcing his way into the paint, these tasks become both more important and more difficult. And while Caleb Martin and KJ Martin have both done an excellent job, the former is only 6’5”, and the latter can get outmatched in post-up by surlier players.
Enter Yabusele. Listed at 6’8” and 271 pounds, the Olympic silver medalist has both the height and the build to match some of the NBA’s toughest athletes (remember his poster dunk on LeBron?). And he’s not afraid to use it. His defensive hustle and physical style of play are a nightmare for opponents with the ball in their hands. He’s strong enough to play as a small-ball center when needed, and perhaps most importantly- he will find a way to get to the rim. In fact, of his five offensive rebounds in Sunday’s contest, four of them led to three-pointers.
Combined with the fact that Yabusele is currently second in the league in loose balls recovered, it’s clear that he’s the kind of difference-maker the Sixers have been longing for. It doesn’t hurt that he has a nice little three-point shot, and it’d help even more if he could limit some of his fouls and illegal screens. But having just come off a five-year contract for Tobias Harris – who never once took a charge – Sixers fans have an extra appreciation for that level of fight.
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Yabusele plays with a little extra heart. Once touted as one of the top international prospects of his class, he was drafted 16th overall by the Celtics in 2017. He spent the next two seasons splitting his time between Boston and the G-League Maine Red Claws before being cut in 2019 after two seasons.
Yabusele has since spent time playing with the Chinese Basketball Association and around Europe before re-joining his French national team for the 2024 Summer Olympics. On the world’s biggest basketball stage, Yabusele stunned in the men’s finals against the US, putting up 20 points and a whole lot of heart. Rewarded with his return to the NBA after five years away, it’s no wonder that he wants every rebound and loose ball just a little bit more.
Guerschon Yabusele is by no means the answer to the greatest of the Sixers’ problems, but he does help alleviate their rebounding woes and takes a major defensive load off of his teammates. There should absolutely be a spot in the rotation for Yabusele when the team’s perennial All-Stars return to the court – he’s more than earned it.
