The Sixers Should Move Guerschon Yabusele By NBA Trade Deadline

Not much has gone right for the Philadelphia 76ers this season. Star center Joel Embiid has played only 13 games because of knee, ankle and face injuries. Prized free-agent pickup Paul George has missed 14 games and has largely underwhelmed when he’s on the court. Even star point guard Tyrese Maxey has backslid in terms of his shooting efficiency.

Rookie guard Jared McCain was an early bright spot for the Sixers, but he tore his meniscus in mid-December and is out for the rest of the season. Guerschon Yabusele, whom the Sixers signed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract after a standout showing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has been the other.

The Boston Celtics originally selected Yabusele with the No. 16 pick in the 2016 NBA draft. He played sparingly for two seasons before falling out of the league entirely. After a few years abroad, he earned another shot at the NBA with his play at the Olympics, and he’s showing that he deserves to stick around this time.

Yabusele is averaging a career-high 10.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in only 25.8 minutes per game for the Sixers this season. He’s shooting a career-high 51.2% overall and 40.9% from three-point range, the latter of which is the best mark on the team.

If the Sixers were more competitive this season, Yabusele would have been an invaluable find for them. Landing a rotation player on a minimum contract is a godsend for teams like the Sixers with three max contracts on their books. Instead, he’s toiling away on a team whose title hopes are fading into nothingness.

That’s why the Sixers should consider moving him by the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline.

Why To Trade Yabusele

Since the Sixers signed Yabusele to a one-year deal, they’ll only have non-Bird rights on him this coming offseason. They can use those to re-sign him even though they’re already over the salary cap, but they can only offer him 120% of a minimum contract as the starting salary of a new deal.

A minimum salary for someone with three years of NBA experience projects to be roughly $2.4 million next season. That means the Sixers could offer Yabusele a starting salary of roughly $2.85 million, but they couldn’t give him more than a four-year, $12.4 million deal via their non-Bird rights.

If Yabusele was amenable to taking another near-minimum salary, he’d likely sign a two-year deal with a second-year player option. If he declined the player option in 2026, the Sixers would have Early Bird rights on him by then, which would allow them to offer him upward of $60 million.

Depending on what else the Sixers do at the trade deadline and this offseason, they could have access to the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception. If Yabusele gets above-minimum offers from other teams this offseason, using the taxpayer MLE might be the Sixers’ best hope to retain him.

Few teams project to have meaningful cap space this summer, which could make the Sixers optimistic about their chances of retaining Yabusele. Then again, if any team throws him a hefty offer, they could be left empty-handed. They have to weigh the likelihood of retaining him this offseason versus the upside of what they can get for him by the trade deadline.

Unless they believe that they could retain Yabusele via non-Bird rights, that shouldn’t be a particularly difficult decision. There would be nothing stopping the Sixers from trading him ahead of the deadline and then attempting to sign him with their taxpayer MLE this offseason. In fact, that might be the best of both worlds—they’d be able to acquire assets for him now and then reunite this offseason using the salary-cap exception that they might have to spend on him anyway.

What Could They Get?

The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has made it more difficult for teams with expensive rosters to swing trades. Teams above the first apron were previously allowed to take back 125% of the salary they sent out in a trade, but now they can’t take back any more salary via a standard trade exception than they send out.

There’s one exception to that rule, though—one that could make Yabusele even more desirable on the trade market. That restriction does not apply to players on minimum contracts. As long as they aren’t hard-capped, teams over the first or second apron could acquire Yabusele without sending out an equivalent amount of salary to the Sixers.

The Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks, both of whom are less than $1 million below the first apron and are hard-capped, still couldn’t acquire Yabusele without sending salary out. The same goes for the New York Knicks, who are hard-capped at the second apron and only $535,000 below that line. But the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks—all of whom are well above the second apron—would be allowed to acquire Yabusele via the minimum player salary exception.

Any team that acquires Yabusele at the trade deadline would inherit his non-Bird rights, so they’d face the same dilemma this offseason that the Sixers will if they keep him. That could make him less attractive to teams that are projected to be above the second apron next year, as they wouldn’t even have the taxpayer MLE to spend on him. Still, he should have a fairly robust market if the Sixers do shop him ahead of the trade deadline.

The Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets fetched a net of two second-round picks for Dennis Schroder and Nick Richards, respectively, in recent weeks. Schroder is also on an expiring contract like Yabusele, although the Warriors will have Early Bird rights on him rather than non-Bird rights. Meanwhile, Richards is under contract through 2025-26.

In other words, the Sixers likely shouldn’t expect more than one second-round pick for Yabusele since it might be tough for his new team to retain him this offseason. Still, adding one second-round pick for a player who might leave for nothing would be good business amidst an otherwise lost season.

If the Sixers and Yabusele are mutually interested in continuing their partnership beyond this year, they don’t have to trade him. Re-signing him via non-Bird rights would be their best-case scenario this offseason, since they’d be hard-capped at the second apron if they spend the taxpayer MLE on him or anyone else.

But if the Sixers aren’t confident in their ability to retain Yabusele via non-Bird rights, they should explore his market in the next two weeks. Getting something of value for a flight risk would beat being left empty-handed this offseason.