The arms race in the NBA’s Eastern Conference is heating up, as the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks duke it out for the top spot on the playoff table. With just two weeks remaining until the league’s March 25 trade deadline, the No. 1 Sixers continue to feature heavily in trade chatter.
A myriad of players have been mentioned as potential targets for Philly’s president of basketball of operations, Daryl Morey. Most notably, Toronto Raptors star Kyle Lowry.
On Wednesday, another backcourt player and former first-round pick was once again mentioned as someone who could be headed to the City of Brotherly Love.
Pistons’ Delon Wright Floated
James Edwards III and John Hollinger of The Athletic discussed the following hypothetical trade that would see the Detroit Pistons’ Delon Wright join the 76ers:
PISTONS GET: F Mike Scott, G/F Terrance Ferguson and a second-round pick.
76ERS GET: G Delon Wright
As noted by Edwards, Wright has been out with a groin strain recently. His initial timeline had him sitting through the All-Star break, although he was able to do some light shooting work before the mid-season pause.
In any case, the injury likely wouldn’t preclude him from being included in a deal. And before he went down, Wright was playing some of his best basketball of the year, averaging 17 points and six assists per contest over his last seven games.
For the season, he’s averaging nearly 11 points, five assists and five rebounds per game. He is also hitting the longball with better efficacy, posting a career-best three-point percentage of 38.4.
Edwards also noted that he is on a cap-friendly deal that will pay him $9 million this season and $8.5 million in 2021-22. In summation, he called the proposed trade a win-win for the teams involved. Hollinger, however, had some reservations:
“The biggest stumbling block I see is Wright’s fit in Philadelphia, where his shaky shooting would be exacerbated on a roster whose two best players are a low-post behemoth and a non-shooting guard. I think the Sixers pass on this Wright due to fit issues.”
Hollinger knows Wright’s game well, too. When he was the vice president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019, his team dealt Marc Gasol for Wright, as well as CJ Miles and Jonas Valanciunas.
GettyDelon Wright of the Detroit Pistons brings the ball up the floor against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Wright Was Reported as a Sixers Target Previously
Whether or not Sixers fans can get with Edwards’ proposed trade, it’s definitely not coming out of left field. In February, Jason Dumas of Bleacher Report and KRON 4 tweeted that Morey and his brain trust had actually inquired about Wright, as well as Oklahoma City Thunder guard George Hill.
In some ways, Hill may be the riskier bet of the two. At 34, he is six years older than Wright and his best days are long behind him. Moreover, he hasn’t appeared on the court for OKC since January after he was forced to undergo right thumb surgery.
Still, he may be more dependable than Wright as a bench scorer in the Sixers’ system. In 14 appearances this season, he is averaging 16.1 points per 36 minutes while knocking down better than 5o percent of his field goal attempts and 39 percent from distance.
As a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019-20, he made a career-high 46 percent of his attempts from behind the arc.
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Pistons Guard & Former First-Rounder Floated as Sixers Trade Target