For the Philadelphia 76ers, it appears there may be a mixture of good and bad news heading into NBA free agency. While the team has its sights set on a top-tier free agent, the first area of focus will obviously be re-signing Jimmy Butler and/or Tobias Harris. Whether that pans out is unknown, but they’ve been linked to a number of other players regardless.
Unfortunately, those players do not appear to be the max-level options such as Kevin Durant, Kawhi Irving and Kyrie Irving. But as The Athletic’s Jordan Brennen reported, the Sixers have interest in Milwaukee Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon, and that’s just the starting point.
Says the West exec: “I have heard that they have an interest in Brogdon. Offer him a big deal and put a little heat on Milwaukee. Play him as a wing. He’s a tough kid. He can defend. He’s resilient. Doesn’t need the ball in his hands. And he has great leadership qualities.”
Brogdon appears to be where the free agency chatter starts, though, as the Sixers are also linked to a few other players from rival teams.
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Sixers Free Agency: Interest in Danny Green & Terrance Ross
In the same story from The Athletic’s Jordan Brennen, he points out that additional sources pointed to both Toronto Raptors guard Danny Green and Orlando Magic guard Terrance Ross as potential options for the Sixers. How legitimately strong Philly’s interest in those two players will be is going to remain as the big question mark.
This report comes along with talk of the team having interest in bringing JJ Redick back, which isn’t all that surprising after his back-to-back impressive seasons in Philadelphia. But the same article from The Athletic provided a potential answer to the team’s need at power forward if they fail to re-sign Harris.
If the Sixers end up keeping Butler and not Harris, they’ll have to fill a hole at power forward. Mirotic’s name came up as a possibility in multiple conversations, since they’ll need to add shooting around Simmons, Butler and Embiid.
Each of the names above from Brogdon to Green, Ross and Nikola Mirotic all make sense and would be great fits with the Sixers while providing an instant-impact alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. But as far as the push for a top free agent outside of Butler or Harris goes, that’s an interesting talking point.
Jimmy Butler & Tobias Harris or Bust for Sixers?
Although there’s no confirmation on what players the Sixers would opt to target if they were to miss out on re-signing both Butler and Harris, there are plenty of options on the open market. That’s the good news, but as Brennen stated, “there doesn’t appear to be mutual interest” from names like Durant, Leonard and Irving.
This isn’t to say that the Sixers couldn’t land a top-tier player to add to their core, but he’s not wrong in the fact that the chatter around those players has essentially all linked them to other teams. Philly could certainly swoop in and make a big push for one or two of the top free agents on the market, but much of that will depend on how the very early stages go, and those players listed above could already be off the market.
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Sixers Linked to Multiple Free Agents From Rivals in NBA Free Agency