Getty Rookie Marial Shayok will be joining the Sixers after the G-League season ends.
The Sixers have been relying on backups and rookies ever since Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid went down. Get ready to welcome two more.
According to SixersWire’s Ky Carlin, Philadelphia will add Zhaire Smith and Marial Shayok to their roster once the G-League season ends on March 28. The two players won’t have too much time to get up to speed as the NBA playoffs begin on April 18 but there’s no denying the team can use whatever help they can muster.
Smith was the Sixers’ first-round pick in 2018 (16th overall) while Shayok went in the second round in 2019 (54th overall). Both men have been providing quality minutes all year for the Delaware Blue Coats.
“They will both go up,” Blue Coats coach Connor Johnson told Carlin. “They will reintegrate with the team and I think that will be good.”
Smith has bounced around between the NBA and G-League this season a tiny bit. He played in seven games for the Sixers and his last stint came on Feb. 7 where he saw three minutes of action.
Shayok was last up on Feb. 7 and played for three minutes in mop-up time. Neither player is likely to catch fire down the stretch but the fact the Sixers can call them up and throw them into meaningful games is great for their development.
Shayok Dominating for Blue Coats in G-League
There has been a small chorus of Sixers fans clamoring for the team to give Marial Shayok a shot.
He’s been dominant all year down in Delaware where he has averaged 22.9 points and 3.9 assists in 30.2 minutes per game for the Blue Coats. More impressively, the 24-year-old has emerged as a legitimate shooter as Shayok is shooting 35-percent from three and 45-percent from the field. He ranks third-best in the entire G-League in scoring.
#2WayPlayer @MarialShayok putting in that work
@CycloneMBB ↗️ @blue_coats ↔️ @sixers
Meanwhile, Zhaire Smith’s progression has been a little slower as he continues a year-long rehab assignment. The 20-year-old suffered a Jones fracture last year and then battled severe weight loss stemming from a food allergy caused by sesame. In 27 games with the Blue Coats, Smith is averaging 13.6 points and 2.2 assists per game. He is shooting 36.8-percent from three and 52.9-percent from the field.
The Blue Coats lost 129-116 to the Lakeland Magic on Sunday and sit seventh in the Eastern Conference standings at 21-21. Shayok and Smith combined for 50 points in the defeat, with Shayok scoring 26 points and Smith putting in 24. Jared Brownridge was the high man with 27 points for the Blue Coats.