In this year’s gold medal game between Team USA and France, Guerschon Yabusele had one of the more memorable plays of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
With just over two minutes remaining in the second quarter, he dunked on Team USA star LeBron James, who was seemingly trying to take a charge against Yabusele.
Yabusele — who the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers inked to a one-year deal after his impressive stint in the Olympics — has since offered some fascinating details on the play.
“I’m not going to lie. It was good at that moment,” Yabusele told Andscape regarding the dunk on James. “I wasn’t realizing that it was going to be that big. I’ve been telling guys that I have done a couple of poster [dunks] in my life and some good ones, too. But to dunk on LeBron with all the people there, especially in the final Olympic, the whole world watching me, I didn’t realize how big it was at the time …
“He blocked me a couple plays before. He was talking s— before, of course. But it was LeBron. Either you dunk it or he blocks it.”
The 76ers are giving Yabusele his first opportunity to carve out a role for himself in the NBA in a long time. His last NBA action came when he appeared in 41 games with the Boston Celtics during the 2018-19 regular season and in four more during the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
Yabusele averaged 2.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per contest in his second and final season in Boston.
It’s within the realm of possibility that Yabusele will be part of the back end of Nick Nurse’s rotation, especially when looking at the depth — or lack thereof — that the team has at the power forward position.
In the 76ers’ most recent preseason contest against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, Yabusele put together a solid two-way performance off the Philadelphia bench.
He finished with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor and even knocked down a 3-pointer. In addition, he grabbed six rebounds — five of which came on the defensive glass — and totaled a game-high three steals in Philadelphia’s dominant victory.
Perhaps his quality of play during the preseason will result in him seeing the floor for at least a little while in the 76ers’ regular-season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 23, which is only six days away.
