Getty Evan Fournier #13 of the New York Knicks shoots the ball as Seth Curry #30 and Andre Drummond #0 of the Brooklyn Nets defend.
The Philadelphia 76ers strengthened their second unit on draft night by acquiring De’Anthony Melton, but there are still some holes to fill. Most notably, the backup center spot. Andre Drummond thrived in his role behind Joel Embiid but was sent to Brooklyn at the trade deadline in exchange for James Harden.
Starting June 30th at 6 p.m., teams will be able to begin negotiations with free agents. In light of this, the people over at Bleacher Report came up with one target for each NBA team this summer, either via signing or trade. For the Sixers, they listed a reunion with the former All-Star center.
Having someone who can dominate the boards and at least take up space defensively when Embiid is out went a long way toward stabilizing those minutes. If Drummond will come back for the taxpayer midlevel (or some portion of it; his salary was only $2.4 million last season), the Sixers should try to make it happen.
Drummond appeared in 49 games for the Sixers before being traded and posted averages of 6.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.1 SPG.
Insider Suggests Sixers-Drummond Reunion
This is not the first time the idea of Drummond making his way back to Philly has been mentioed. Back in May, Alex Schiffer of The Athletic cited the 28-year-old could re-sign with the Sixers in free agency due to his close connection with head coach Doc Rivers.
The Sixers missed Drummond after the trade and the 6-foot-11 center remains tight with Doc Rivers, who has known him since he was a teenager. The two still talk frequently. Now that Rivers is slated to return as Philadelphia’s head coach next year, Drummond could reunite with him if that’s his preference and the money is the same
Along with providing stability behind Embiid, Drummond’s skill set highlights one of the Sixers’ biggest weak points. This past season, Philly was 29th in the NBA in rebounds per game at 42.3. Only the Houston Rockets were weaker on the glass. As a four-time rebound champ, bringing Drummond back could be a quick-fix solution.
Sixers Looking to Give The Young Guys Their Shot
While Daryl Morey is sure to explore all avenues, some of his recent comments suggest the Sixers might not be very active in the center market. Following the NBA Draft, he mentioned Paul Reed and Charles Bassey could step up and become Embiid’s backup moving forward.
Paul can hopefully build on what he did at the end of last year. We’re going to be opportunistic with a bigger spend in free agency. There will be opportunistic look at minimal spends. But I think the bar will be high on like a minimal spend on the backup center spot because we feel like we got some guys who can contribute.
Reed hasn’t gotten many opportunities at the NBA level, but Doc Rivers called on the former G-League MVP during the postseason. Facing off against a young and athletic team in the Toronto Raptors, Rivers opted for Reed to backup Embiid over veteran Deandre Jordan. Across 12 playoff games, the 23-year-old averaged 3.7 PPG and 3.8 RPG while converting 52.8% of his field-goal attempts.