The Philadelphia 76ers are in a tough spot with Ben Simmons holding out for a trade. Not only does this brings bad publicity, but more importantly it will impact their production on the court at the point guard position.
Currently, the Sixers only have second-year score first point guard Tyrese Maxey and fourth-year combo guard Shake Milton to rely on for the time being. I’ve already written about the 76ers needing a veteran point guard.
Point guards like Isaiah Thomas and Jeff Teague are available in free agency, but the Sixers don’t have a free roster spot so focusing on free agency isn’t the best option. The trade market outside of Simmons might be the best way to get a quality veteran point guard for a short term solution. One option is a starter from last season is now a third-string point guard for the Phoenix Suns.
The Philadelphia 76ers need to call the Suns about a trade.
The point guard I’m referring to is Elfrid Payton. Payton is a pass-first point guard who is a good rebounder and can defend when properly motivated by a good coach. Payton was the starting point guard for the New York Knicks last season, but he’s not a real threat to score the ball offensive, which hurt his value last season and especially in the postseason.
With the Knicks, his playmaking was diminished because Julius Randle took over the primary playmaking duties last year. Last season, Payton averaged 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.6 turnovers, while shooting 43.2 from the field and 28.6 percent from the 3-point line.
Outside of the assists, those averages are pretty representative of Payton’s career stats. Thus far in his career, he’s averaged 10.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.1 turnovers, while making 45.0 percent of his field goals and 28.9 percent of his 3-pointers.
There’s no doubt that Payton can run an offense. The issue is that he’s not a shooting threat which is a problem in this version of the NBA thus him going from a starter last year to a third-string point guard behind Chris Paul and Cameron Payne this season. That being written, he’s a guy who could stabilize the Sixers’ offense more than what Milton or Maxey has shown they could do at this point.
Until the trade restriction to trade Payton is lifted because he signed as a free agent this offseason, the Sixers will have plenty of time to figure out the Simmons situation. Even if Simmons is still in a hold-out, once the 76ers can trade for Payton, they should. It shouldn’t take much to acquire the 2014 first round pick from Phoenix.
It would only take one player and depending on which player the Philadelphia 76ers send, they could get a second round pick in return. It’s worth the risk for the Sixers to trade for Payton considering how his playmaking would stabilize the offense and his contract is only worth $2.4 million for one year.