Currently, the Philadelphia 76ers have a full 15 man roster, including two players on two-way contracts. That doesn’t mean that the franchise shouldn’t be looking to upgrade the roster if legit talent becomes available.
Let’s stay away from the idea of trading until a deal to ship out Ben Simmons becomes available. Instead, let’s look toward free agency, but in particular, at potential buy-out candidates entering this season. This piece was originally inspired by Jason Reed’s article on The Lake Show Life and there are two players on his list that made mine as well.
Four early in-season buyout candidates: Derrick Favors
Derrick Favors is the most likely candidate on this list to actually get bought out. Let’s start with the fact he’s a veteran player who was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder this past offseason. The center is entering his 12th season and he still can be a solid contributor for a contender.
The Thunder are still in the middle of a rebuild so the need for a 30-year-old big man isn’t necessary. Prior to this offseason, the Thunder hadn’t bought out veteran players on their rebuilding roster, just ask Chris Paul and Al Horford. However, that changed with Kemba Walker getting a buyout early this offseason.
If it happened for Walker, there’s little reason not to believe it could happen with Favors after the trade deadline. This season his deal is worth $9.7 million and he has a player option worth $10.2 million.
Surely the Thunder will try to trade him and there’s a good chance he does get traded, but if he doesn’t, then he could get bought out past the trade deadline. If the Andre Drummond experiment fails, Favors as a free agent is an intriguing option as a backup to Joel Embiid.