Sixers’ Guerschon Yabusele makes the second time the charm through will and skill

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Guerschon Yabusele’s drive to get back into the NBA was rooted by one thing.

“My process was to prove to everyone that doubted me,” the 76ers post player said. “It was really a process of just working out and showing what I can actually do. I didn’t get the chance to be able to prove myself when I was in Boston.”

Six seasons after his stint with the Boston Celtics, Yabusele has proved to be an impactful player in the league.

With Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond sidelined, the 6-foot-8, 280-pounder made his fourth start at center inTuesday’s 110-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets in the Sixers’ NBA Cup East Group A finale. Yabusele also has made two starts at his natural power forward position.

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He struggled shooting against the Hornets, making just 3 of 10 shots — including missing all six of his three-pointers. However, Yabusele finished with a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with four assists, one steal and a block.

He entered Tuesday’s game averaging 9.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 43.7% on three-pointers in the Sixers’ first 18 games.

Yabusele scored a career-high 22 points while making his first start at power forward in last Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Houston Rockets at the Wells Fargo Center. He’s made a career-high five three-pointers twice and finished with three or more three-pointers five times.

“From Day 1 when we got together as a team, I noticed that there’s no way he should have been out of the league,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “But at the end of the day, he’s back and he’s taken full advantage of his opportunity, and he’ll be here for a long time.”

But the France native’s first NBA stint ended only after two seasons.

Yabusele averaged 2.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 6.6 minutes in 74 games during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons with the Celtics. He also made just 32.3% of his three-pointers in Boston before being waived on July 10, 2019.

It wasn’t surprising that minutes were hard to come by.

Boston reached the Eastern Conference finals, losing to the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games during his rookie campaign. The Celtics were ousted in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks in five games in his second season. He was buried behind Marcus Morris Sr. and Semi Ojeleye at power forward on those teams. Gordon Hayward also received minutes at power forward during the 2018-19 season.

“It was definitely not the right timing,” Yabusele said. “It was still good. I had a couple of games. Being able to be in practice, being able to [have] those experiences to be over there, go to the conference finals, everything, it was amazing.

“My time in Boston was some of the best time of my life. So I could never talk bad about it or feel wronged. It’s good. It is what it is.”

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While out of the NBA, he spent a season with the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association before joining ASVEL of the French LNB Pro A in 2020.

Yabusele then signed with Real Madrid in July 2021. He helped lead the team to the 2023 EuroLeague championship, two Liga ACB titles, and three Spanish Super Cup championships. Yabusele averaged 9.7 points while shooting 44.5% from three-point range this past season in Spain.

“I know for sure being able to shoot threes and being able to guard and be a playmaker will definitely help,” he said of his path to get back into the NBA. “So I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy that I didn’t know how to do before. I was just repeating and trying to do what I learned since I left the last time.”

But his journey back to the NBA involved much more than shooting, defending, and playmaking. He worked on improving his post moves and reading the game better. He worked on everything he thought would enable him to help an NBA franchise.

“I had to know when I got to hit the screen and stay longer and know when I got to hit and get out of it quick,” he said. “All the little things that come with the game. I think, in general, I got better.”

The basketball universe noticed that improvement when Yabusele played on the French team at the Paris Olympics. He had one of the most memorable moments of the summer games when his dunked on James in the gold-medal game between Team USA and France.

Team USA won, 98-87, but the trajectory of Yabusele’s career changed after averaging 19.6 points in France’s three games against Canada, Germany, and Team USA in the medal round.

He signed a one-year, $2.1 million deal with the Sixers on Aug. 29.

“I just don’t understand how he was out of the league for five years,” Oubre said. “But at the end of the day, this is a business. You can definitely tell somebody that stayed ready so that they didn’t have to get ready when their name and number got called.

“And he’s taking full advantage of his opportunity. I’m super proud of him, and I’m blessed to play with him because he’s such a great dude. He looks like a bear, but he’s a teddy bear off the court. But on the court, he is a grizzly bear.”

Make that a grizzly bear nicknamed the “Dancing Bear” by a Celtics assistant because of his great footwork.

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That footwork is the result of boxing and playing soccer as a youth.

Yabusele was raised in Dreux, France, to parents who emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo. His father was a boxer in Africa and became a trainer in France. So at the age of 3, Yabusele began training as a boxer.

“I was always something that I loved, watching my dad and hitting the bag,” he said.

He took up soccer a little later.

“Those two sports, you have to move your feet a lot,” he said. “So that really helps today when I’m now on the court when I’m at the five. But I can move my feet really fast.”

And now, that footwork and versatility helps the Sixers.