Acquiring a shooting specialist could help, if the Philadelphia 76ers could get some type of deal done before the NBA Trade Deadline.
The Philadelphia 76ers have their fair share of problems, more so than most teams with expectations of becoming NBA Champions this upcoming June. By the looks of the roster the issues with this team is a lack of perimeter shooting and perimeter creation for oneself and others.
The problems have been documented on this very site, other sports sites, talk radio, podcasts and beyond. Time is of the essence for the Sixers to make a move as the NBA Trade Deadline is Thursday, February 6th at 3pm E.T.
A possibility that fits the needs of the Sixers to a lesser degree is San Antonio’s’ 26-year-old guard Bryn Forbes. The Michigan State product is in his fourth NBA season where he has started 49 out of 50 games. He’s playing 25.3 minutes per game, scoring 10.9 points per game, shooting 46.4 percent on 2-pointers, 36.2 percent on 3-pointers, and 82.5 percent from the free throw line.
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Statistically, Forbes can help be a threat to space the floor for a Sixers team that looks like they play on top of each other at times. The 6-foot-2 Forbes is in the last year of his rookie contract and has a buyout clause for $2.8 million, meaning the Sixers can attack acquiring him from two different angles.
The begging question here is why would the San Antonio Spurs get rid of Forbes. San Antonio has a decent young backcourt core in place with Dejounte Murray (23 years old), Derrick White (25 years old), and Lonnie Walker IV (21 years old).
Then they have 10-year veteran and star player DeMar DeRozan who is up for a $27.1 million player option. It’s safe to assume he’ll take up another spot in the rotation to cash in on that yearly salary he seemingly won’t earn again after this contract is up.
Then we get to Marco Belinelli, the former Sixers sharpshooter and is on an expiring deal as well. It’s rumored that he being shopped by the Spurs. In my opinion, Belinelli would be a better player to keep for the Spurs to be a veteran to the core I’ve mentioned, leaving Forbes to walk from the franchise.
Acquiring Forbes from San Antonio would be a small, short term band-aid for the Philadelphia 76ers downfalls. There hasn’t been any rumors of Forbes leaving the franchise as the Spurs historically aren’t active at the trade deadline. With that being said, Forbes is a replaceable rotational player in the prime years of his career. If the Sixers pull it off, then it would be nice and if not, then the team would have to find shooting elsewhere.