Sixers Rumors: Yabusele, Gordon, Embiid, George, Edwards

The Sixers‘ minimum-salary investment in Guerschon Yabusele has paid off in a big way this season, with the big man playing a regular role in Philadelphia and submitting strong numbers, including 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game with a .394 3PT%. The 76ers “love” the Frenchman, Marc Stein writes at his Substack.

However, as Adam Aaronson and Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype outline for PhillyVoice.com, retaining Yabusele beyond this season might not be easy. The Sixers will only hold his Non-Bird rights, which will prevent them from offering more than 20% above his minimum salary unless use another cap exception. Philadelphia should have the taxpayer mid-level exception available, but even if that’s enough to re-sign Yabusele, it would mean not being able to use the MLE to bring in additional help.

With that in mind, the Sixers may to make a difficult decision on Yabusele at this year’s deadline, according to Stein, who reports that multiple playoff teams have submitted trade offers for the 29-year-old. Given that Philadelphia is just 17-27, is well above the tax line, and isn’t assured of hanging onto Yabusele beyond this season, entertaining those offers might be in the team’s best interest.

Veteran swingman Eric Gordon, who has made 49.2% of his three-point attempts in his last 14 outings since returning from oral surgery, has also generated trade interest, Stein writes, adding that the 76ers want to see how the next week-plus plays out before making any final decisions about their trade deadline plans.

Here’s more on the Sixers:

• Joel Embiid‘s swollen left knee has responded well to treatment and he was partial participant in practice on Monday, per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter links). However, the former MVP has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game vs. the Lakers as well as Wednesday’s vs. the Kings, according to the team.
• Paul George, who underwent an MRI on his injured finger on Sunday, didn’t practice on Monday and won’t play on Tuesday, Neubeck adds. The club is still reviewing the results of the forward’s MRI.
• John Hollinger of The Athletic takes stock of the Sixers’ current situation, explaining why tanking this season to try to protect their top-six protected 2025 first-rounder doesn’t make much sense, given how close they are to a play-in spot and the head-start that the NBA’s other tanking teams have gotten. Hollinger could see Philadelphia either buying or selling at the deadline, given the club’s tradable draft assets still on hand and its position relative to the tax line.
• Within the same story, Hollinger highlights Sixers two-way player Justin Edwards, writing that the rookie has shown he’s capable of being a solid NBA role player. “I feel like a broken record, but he just seems to always be in the right place on offense,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Edwards on Friday. “He’s got a few levels, he can go all the way to the rim, he’s got enough of a pull-up if there’s too much traffic there, and he’s got a decent sense (of when) to (kick) it out.”