Outside of Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ bench was disappointing in these playoffs and it was capitalized by the overall poor play of Shake Milton. The perception of Milton has changed dramatically from not only his postseason play but also his performance this regular season as well.
After having a promising second season, Milton was thought to be a young jewel from the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft. However, based on this past year, it could be argued that it would be in the best interest of the Sixers to include Milton in any trade that could help Philly land legit talent.
The Philadelphia 76ers should have Shake Milton available in trade talks
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To be fair to Milton, he did have a career year scoring as he averaged 13.0 points per game. He shot 45.0 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from the 3-point line. On the surface, he had a solid season, despite shooting 43.0 percent from downtown the season before.
His 3-point percent is especially misleading. Before the All-Star break he was shooting 31.3 percent from deep and after the All-Star game it jumped to 38.5 percent. It should be noted that his pre All-Star scoring was at 13.8 points per game and post-All-Star it was 12.3 points per game.
His playoffs were even more disappointing as he averaged just 4.3 points on 31.9 percent shooting from the field. That’s more than 10 points per game lower than his previous postseason run. Outside of the second half of Game 2 against the Atlanta Hawks, he proved to be unplayable this postseason.
Milton’s value from his second season came from his efficient shooting because he’s not an above-average athlete, ball handler, or defender. This year he struggled with that, so it might be better if the Sixers move on from him. Especially with the emergence of Maxey as a viable sixth man for next season, in the event Maxey doesn’t become the starting point guard even though I’ve written that he should be baring a trade or free agent signing.
The Philadelphia 76ers have the depth to move on from Milton and can still get decent value for him in the trade market considering his minimum contract.