According to Shams Charania, the injury Joel Embiid suffered is likely to keep him sidelined for roughly six to eight weeks. Knowing that the Philadelphia 76ers will have to get creative finding other ways to ‘replace’ the reigning NBA MVP, at least in the short term.
Paul Reed and Mo Bamba are already set for a large increase in minutes, but is this duo enough to help Tyrese Maxey and Co. maintain pace in the Eastern Conference? The 76ers aren’t sure either, and now they could be close to adding a former All-Star ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
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Philadelphia 76ers could target Andre Drummond at NBA trade deadline
The NBA trade deadline expires at 3 PM ET today, giving the Philadelphia 76ers little time to make a move, but since the Joel Embiid injury happened nearly a week ago, the front office has had plenty of time to prepare.
According to Marc Stein, one of the players the 76ers are targeting includes former two-time All-Star center Andre Drummond via trade from the Chicago Bulls.
While the Bulls have been playing better as of late thanks to Coby White’s breakout performance, Drummond was recently named the “Most likely Bull to be traded this week” by Stein.
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No one can replace Embiid’s production, but with Maxey taking an even bigger role in Philadelphia’s offense, adding a player who needs a lot of touches to make an impact isn’t necessary. But Drummond? His value comes from shining the glass. After all, according to Drummond, he’s the “best rebounder in NBA history.”
While we’re not quite ready to hand Drummond the NBA’s all-time rebounding title, he is pretty damn good.
- Andre Drummond’s stats this season: 7.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 16.2 MPG
Averaging nearly nine rebounds per game while playing just 16 minutes per contest is ridiculous. But this is a player who’s won the NBA’s rebounding title on four separate occasions, including one year where Drummond averaged 16 boards per game.
Drummond can’t come close to being the scorer, or offensive weapon that Embiid is. His scoring ability is limited to the paint instead of shooting from distance like Embiid does, yet it’s clear that Drummond’s skills would be extremely valuable for a team that ranks 20th in rebounds and just lost their best rebounder for an extended stretch.
We’ll see if the 76ers have enough to pull off a trade for their former player, but since he’s on an expiring contract at a rate of $3.3 million, the price likely won’t be too high. But that doesn’t mean the 76ers are ready to pay it or that the Bulls are eager to trade a player worth far more than his contract suggests.
