“I'm waiting for a second chance. I'm ready.” This is the message that posted Guershon Yabusele on the social networksand the French team's interior naturally mentioned a “second chance” in the NBA. Sixteenth pick of the Celtics in the 2016 Draft, Yabusele had a brief stint in the NBA, and he returned to Europe in 2019 where he became one of the best players in his position under the colors of Real Madrid.
Like Matthias Lessort, Yabusele remains on the NBA scouts' radar and his 14-point average at the Olympics and his immense game against Team USA confirmed that he deserved a “second chance”. The problem is that he is under contract with Real Madrid, and his exit clause is very high. According to Marc Stein, it is… $2.5 million!
Moving from the top of the Euroleague to the NBA remains complicated
At Real, they had anticipated a possible success for the Frenchman at the Olympics since his exit clause was set at one million dollars until July 15, then at 2.5 million dollars after that. It should be noted that NBA franchises are authorized to pay up to 850,000 dollars to pay a departure clause. Which means that 1.65 million dollars would remain the responsibility of Yabusele.
Moreover, in the NBA, the Frenchman is not guaranteed to play a big role, nor to have a big salary. Like Lessort, approached by the Knicks this summer, Yabusele flourished in the Euroleague and the recent examples of Sasha Vezenkov and Vasilije Micic prove that it is complicated, at 25 years old and over, to go from star status in Europe to that of “role player” in the NBA. Last January, Yabusele explained that he would not return to the NBA without a guarantee on his playing time.
