If the situation does not take a radical turn, Real Madrid will lose Guerschon Yabusele to the NBA in the next few days. The French power forward has already finalized an agreement with the Philadelphia 76ers and only needs the negotiations to crystallize for the termination of his contract with the white club for his departure to become a reality.
Yabusele’s departure represents a certain sporting loss for Chus Mateo’s team, which is left without the number four who had the most minutes in its squad in the last season. But if we analyse the operation from an economic point of view, things change considerably and his departure represents a great success for the white club, which must receive 2.5 million as an exit clause to the NBA for a player who only had one year left on his contract. Pains are less painful with bread. In addition, Madrid will save the Frenchman’s salary (about 2.2 million euros gross) without the sporting hole being very noticeable, since Mario Hezonja, Gaby Deck and the recently signed Usman Garuba can perform in his position.
Yabusele’s deal with the Sixers is for one year and $2.2 million. With an exit clause of €2.5 million in his contract with Madrid and the NBA setting the maximum amount that teams can pay for a transfer at $850,000, the deal seems ruinous for the Frenchman. Yabusele will go from earning €2.2 million gross with Madrid in the 2024-25 season to being left with a negative balance of around €600,000 in that period.
So how can Yabusele’s decision be explained? His main motivation is sporting, that of trying to prove that he has a place in the NBA, where he had a residual role in his first two seasons with the Boston Celtics (2017-19). On the other hand, playing a third season in the American league (even if it is just one game) will allow him to be entitled to the NBA retirement pension (about $36,000 per year from the age of 62 in his case, a figure that would be increased if he plays more seasons). It should also be taken into account that Real Madrid, which does not forgive clauses, will agree to collect theirs in installments over a few years, which will ease the Frenchman’s finances.
The king of clauses
Yabusele’s example is the latest in a long list of examples that show that Real Madrid is the European team that best protects itself from the plunder of the NBA. It cannot prevent its stars from making the jump to the best league in the world, but at least they receive significant financial compensation in return. Since 2014, and including Yabusele, the white club will have earned 20.3 million euros only from the release clauses of its players to the NBA, namely Nikola Mirotic (2.5 million in 2014), Sergio Rodríguez (3 million in 2016), Luka Doncic (2 million in 2018), Facundo Campazzo (6 million in 2020), Gaby Deck (1.3 million in 2021), Usman Garuba (3 million in 2021) and Guerschon Yabusele (2.5 million in 2024).
No other European team comes close, not even close. To put it into perspective, Barça have earned less than €7 million from the departure of their players to the NBA in this same period: Mario Hezonja (€1.5 million in 2015), Tomas Satoransky (€1.5 million in 2016), Álex Abrines (€2 million in 2016), Rodions Kurucs (€750,000 in 2018) and Leandro Bolmaro (€900,000 in 2021), a total of €6.65 million.
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