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K.C. Johnson: Guerschon Yabusele also is pushing back on notion he’s for sure returning to Europe next season after declining his player option to facilitate trade to Bulls: “My main goal is to stay in the NBA for sure.”
You gave up your player option worth $5.8 million (€5 million) to join Chicago. Many would have chosen the money, even if it meant staying on the bench next season. Why not you? Guerschon Yabusele: It’s love for basketball. Maybe this summer I’ll regret it. Who knows? But that’s how it is. I truly love competition. When you’ve experienced the highest level, when you’ve played games like the ones we had at the Olympics with France, it’s hard to sit on the bench watching others play. How are you approaching the end of the season in Chicago? With the desire to establish yourself there, or with the belief that you’ve shown enough to convince a team to bet on you this summer? Guerschon Yabusele: I hope I’ve done enough here, but I don’t know how the team thinks or what it’s really looking for. I’d really like to come back this summer. I’m going to keep pushing for that, and I’d also like to sign for several years so I can breathe a bit.
NBA players have also raised awareness. Nicolas Batum tweeted: “Elijah Hoard has been missing after being dropped by his father at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Friday. If you have any information, please contact the local authorities.” Guerschon Yabusele added: “Elijah Hoard has been missing since Friday evening in Chicago. He was supposed to catch a flight to France but never boarded. If you have any information, please notify his family or detectives at Area One SVU at 312-747-8380. Thank you“.
It’s rare for a player in Yabusele’s situation to forgo guaranteed money. But if you ask Yabusele about it, he’ll tell you it was an easy decision. “We can always see the side of the money and talk about it, but at the end of the day the passion is more than just the money. It’s being out there, missing the feeling of being out there, offense, defense. Just competing at a high level because I’m a competitor first,” Yabusele said in an interview with SNY. “… The situation with New York was a little bit different for me because I wasn’t really playing, so being able to be on another team and try to bring value on the court was really important. I was just missing being out there on the court, making mistakes, learning from it and trying to get better.”
Yabusele so far has proven the Bulls right, averaging 12.5 points in 30 minutes over his first two games. “I love it out there with the team, the guys. The coaches, they did a great job of welcoming me the best way they can,” Yabusele said. “Everybody’s telling me how happy they are for me to be out there on the team with them. It just makes it easy for me to have confidence and just feel good on the court.”
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It’s rare for a player in Guerschon Yabusele’s situation to forgo guaranteed money. But if you ask Yabusele about it, he’ll tell you it was an easy decision. “We can always see the side of the money and talk about it, but at the end of the day the passion is more than just the money. It’s being out there, missing the feeling of being out there, offense, defense. Just competing at a high level because I’m a competitor first,” Yabusele said in an interview with SNY. “…. The situation with New York was a little bit different for me because I wasn’t really playing, so being able to be on another team and try to bring value on the court was really important. I was just missing being out there on the court, making mistakes, learning from it and trying to get better.”
“I mean the decision was, I wanna say pretty quick and easy,” Yabusele, a former first round pick of the Celtics who spent a few seasons overseas before returning to the NBA. “For me to be able to have that second chance at the NBA and come back here, I had to take (a) risk. So I would say it was nothing new to me…. I was thinking about (amending my contract) and I thought that this was the best thing to do.”
Bulls also know Yabusele can help them on the court, something he wasn’t able to do in New York. Yabusele so far has proven the Bulls right, averaging 12.5 points in 30 minutes over his first two games. “I love it out there with the team, the guys. The coaches, they did a great job of welcoming me the best way they can,” Yabusele said. “Everybody’s telling me how happy they are for me to be out there on the team with them. It just makes it easy for me to have confidence and just feel good on the court.”
Guerschon Yabusele: It's a new, young team. There are a lot of new players. I'm not worried, we'll get to know each other better. I'm very happy to be back on the court and to enjoy myself. New York is a bit of a thing of the past, I don't want to go back to the past. I want to move forward and I wish them all the best." I'm going to bring energy, experience, and a positive attitude. I think there's potential. We're going to try to have a good second half of the season.
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Ian Begley: Guerschon Yabusele worked with Knicks to amend 2nd year of his contract, removing the player option in order facilitate trade with Chicago, per league sources. Trade gives him opportunity to compete and play this season in CHI and evaluate his options this summer.
K.C. Johnson: Guerschon Yabusele no longer has a player option for next season and will be a UFA this offseason, sources can confirm. He had worked with Knicks to amend contract before the Dalen Terry trade.
Yossi Gozlan: Jose Alvarado to the Knicks will likely be looped into the Yabusele trade. The Knicks can acquire him for one of Yabu or Dalen Terry.
