{"id":89965,"date":"2024-08-11T16:20:20","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T20:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=89965"},"modified":"2024-08-11T16:23:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T20:23:19","slug":"guerschon-yabusele-ready-for-nba-return-after-olympics-breakout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/11\/guerschon-yabusele-ready-for-nba-return-after-olympics-breakout\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Olympics Breakout Star &#8220;Ready&#8221; for NBA Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite not appearing in an NBA game in over five years, 28-year-old forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yabusgu01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-11_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Guerschon Yabusele<\/a> took the basketball world by storm during <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/10\/mens-basketball-2024-paris-olympics-all-star-5-announced\/\" target=\"_self\">the 2024 Paris Olympics<\/a>. Representing France, Yabusele helped his home country take home a silver medal after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/10\/paris-olympics-steph-currys-heroics-in-the-gold-medal-game\/\" target=\"_self\">their loss to Team USA<\/a> in the Finals. During the Olympics, he averaged 14 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1 assist per game. This includes a 20-point performance against Team USA. Additionally, he shot 51.9% from the field throughout the Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>Less than 24 hours after losing to Team USA, Yabusele took to X to say he is &#8220;ready&#8221; for a second chance. Though he did not directly say it, it is fair to assume he is talking about a second chance in the NBA.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Been waiting for a 2nd chance.. I\u2019m ready \ud83d\ude24\ud83e\uddf8<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Guerschon Yabusele (@yabusele28) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yabusele28\/status\/1822671574975033375?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Additionally, NBA veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fournev01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-11_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Fournier<\/a>, who was teammates with Yabusele during the Olympics, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EvanFourmizz\/status\/1822694281141756370\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">endorsed an NBA return<\/a> for him.<\/p>\n<p>According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Yabusele has one year remaining on his contract with Real Madrid. However, his contract does include a $2.5 million NBA buyout.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">League sources tell <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSteinLine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheSteinLine<\/a> that France star Guerschon Yabusele has one season left on his Real Madrid contract \u2014 with an NBA buyout of $2.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>The buyout was just $1 million had Yabusele been pursued by an NBA team before July 15.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/A6ycVmnrjq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/A6ycVmnrjq<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LNu25T4MrQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LNu25T4MrQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSteinLine\/status\/1822711196077752388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/01\/boston-celtics-fantasy-basketball-2023-24-season-review\/\" target=\"_self\">Boston Celtics<\/a> drafted Yabusele with the No. 16 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. However, the &#8220;Dancing Bear&#8221; did not appear in an NBA game for Boston until the 2017-18 season. Yabusele spent just two seasons with the Celtics, playing in 74 total games. In that time, he averaged 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. Boston waived Yabusele after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2018\/07\/29\/boston-celtics-championship-hopes\/\" target=\"_self\">the 2018-19 season<\/a>. Since then, he has only played basketball overseas.<\/p>\n<h2>2024 Olympics Breakout Star &#8220;Ready&#8221; for NBA Return<\/h2>\n<h3>Guerschon Yabusele May Be Eying a Celtics Return<\/h3>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/09\/france-attempting-to-win-first-gold-medal-in-mens-basketball\/\" target=\"_self\">France&#8217;s victory against Germany<\/a> in the Olympics, Yabusele scored 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field. Additionally, he recorded seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal. After the game, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe posted on X that he had an interaction with Yabusele. According to Washburn, Yabusele said he should &#8220;tell [the Celtics] to bring me back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just had a moment with Guerschon Yabusele, who recognized me and said smiling, &#8220;You gotta tell (the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Celtics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Celtics<\/a>) to bring me back.&#8221; Yabu was a former BOS first-round pick. Plays now for Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GwashburnGlobe\/status\/1821613276171784249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It is likely that Yabusele was making a joke after recognizing Washburn. However, it is still something to keep an eye on.<\/p>\n<p>The Celtics <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/19\/brad-stevens-discusses-possibilities-for-celtics-final-roster-spot\/\" target=\"_self\">currently still have a roster spot<\/a> open just a couple of months before the 2024-25 season. However, GM Brad Stevens<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2024\/08\/10\/sports\/brad-stevens-celtics\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> recently said &#8220;it&#8217;s unlikely&#8221;<\/a> the team will use the final roster spot by the end of the offseason.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe\u2019re just going to monitor the health of our team and see how everybody\u2019s doing, and if there\u2019s any issues that arise between now and September that we need to really address, then we might use it,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cBut right now I\u2019d say it\u2019s unlikely. We\u2019re still looking to sign a couple of Exhibit 10s that their most likely path will be to play in Maine. But we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite not appearing in an NBA game in over five years, 28-year-old forward Guerschon Yabusele took the basketball world by storm during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Representing France, Yabusele helped his home country take home a silver medal after their loss to Team USA in the Finals. During the Olympics, he averaged 14 points, 3.3 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":88849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,2,62,3],"tags":[49184,797],"class_list":["post-89965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","tag-2024-olympics","tag-guerschon-yabusele"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}