7 Players the Philadelphia 76ers held onto for way too long
By Oliver Fox
4. Andre Drummond
The second part of the unholy trinity of Embiid backups enters the room. Andre Drummond has confused me for a long time, as I swear his career has taken place on that beach in the new M. Night Shyamalan film Old, in which everyone ages way faster than normal.
If someone asked me to gut-check Drummond’s place in the NBA, I’d say he’s a washed-up veteran about to enter a job as the color commentator on the local Detroit Pistons radio broadcast. Except, wait, he’s actually only 29 years old and averaged a double-double for Brooklyn as recently as 2021.
Even I feel bad about putting Drummond on this list because he quite literally only played in 49 games for the 76ers, but I refuse to let Philly’s unwillingness to figure out a backup center go unnoticed. Drummond’s tenure with the 76ers was far-and-away his worst statistical performance to date, and his legacy is ultimately as a piece in the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade.
But the very signing of Drummond to his veteran minimum in 2021 was enough for him to make this list, and he should really be taken along with the guy who comes next as one player. Drummond is indicative of the name-brand issue that Dwight Howard also had, as well as forcing everyone who notices Drummond’s 20 minutes per game to ask the same, exhausted question:
“What exactly is the plan here?”
Howard and Drummond as the backup five to one of the best players in the league is like painting your Ferrari neon green and emblazoning the hood with a four-foot-wide decal of Hello Kitty. It’s embarrassing, and you bet I’m going to bring this home with our last failed Embiid backup.