7 Players the Philadelphia 76ers held onto for way too long

5. Deandre Jordan

I was so offended by this signing that I’m including a player who unironically appeared in 16 total games for the 76ers on the “players they held onto for too long” list. Is this some kind of sick joke? Yes.

Think of Deandre Jordan as the drum major for the pantheon of backup centers that should never have been more than break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guys but ended up playing 10+ minutes on what was supposed to be a contender. After trading for James Harden, GM Darryl Morey conceivably decided that Deandre Jordan, Harden’s former teammate, would be the perfect guy to bring onto this roster in March.

Once Jordan donned his number 9 jersey, he completed the triumvirate of Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond, and Jordan that would have been the greatest frontcourt in the universe in like 2015.

Their collective tenure was an exercise in not having a plan. It’s kind of like someone drafting a fantasy football team and realizing they forgot to get a backup wide receiver, so they overpaid on Robert Woods in the 9th round. I’m totally not speaking from personal experience.

Not even included are the other random dudes that occupied the backup center spot during the time, namely Paul Millsap (who remembers him from about ten years ago?) and Willie Cauley-Stein, whose coolest attribute is that his middle name is Trill. Should I stop? I should stop.

The moral of our three-player tangent? Figure out a backup to Embiid. Don’t make me write this again.