France's Guerschon Yabusele posterizes LeBron James in Olympic gold medal game
Team USA and France were battling it out for the gold medal in men’s basketball. And France’s Guerschon Yabusele did not disappoint with an unforgettable highlight. He went baseline and posterized LeBron James of USA, knocking him to the ground with the thunderous jam.
The dunk from Yabusele will certainly go down as one of the more impressive posterizations in Olympic basketball history.
He put together an impressive first half, stuffing the stat sheet with 15 points for France on 5 of 10 shooting from the field. USA led France 49-41 at the end of the first half, and that was thanks in large part to the run they went on after Yabusele’s posterization of James. Devin Booker also stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field for Team USA.
France was very cold from outside in the first half, connecting on just 3 of 16 shots (18.8%) from beyond-the-arc. USA drilled 9 of 20 shots (45.0%) from downtown in the first half. France had 26 points in the paint in the first half and USA had 20 points in the paint.
In the third quarter, USA opened up their lead to 14 points (61-47) with just under seven minutes left to play. Steph Curry drilled a wide open three-pointer to cap off the run.
USA’s lead was trimmed to six points (72-66) at the end of the third quarter. The Americans would eventually prevail victorious, thanks to a record-setting performance from Steph Curry (24 points). He got hot from beyond-the-arc late and simply could not be stopped.
USA defeated France 98-87. Yabusele finished with 20 points, finishing as the second-leading scorer for the French in the gold medal game. Victor Wembanyama did not disappoint in his first gold medal game appearance. He led France in scoring with 26 points, while also stuffing the stat sheet with seven rebounds. Before Saturday night, he’d been averaging 13.8 points per game in the Olympics.
Will Guerschon Yabusele get a call from NBA teams?
Yabusele currently does not play for an NBA team. Professionally, he has played for Real Madrid since 2021, leading them to the EuroLeague championship in 2023. From 2017-2019, the French star saw limited minutes for the Boston Celtics, earning 7.1 minutes per game in the 2017-2018 campaign. It’ll be interesting to see if an NBA team calls him after his impressive performance in the 2024 Olympics.