The Philadelphia 76ers will be faced with numerous bouts of tough decisions to make this coming summer. Half of their players could very well hit free agency this offseason, and one player in particular touts an interesting case. Trendon Watford, who is one of the newcomers on this team this season, could end up hitting the open market depending on what the front office intends to do with him.
Philly has a $2.8 million team option they can exercise to welcome him back for the 2026-27 circuit, and while that looks like an easy call given his low cost, his minuscule role this season makes that proposition a tad more shaky. After a strong start to the campaign, Watford fell off, and the 76ers ended up not reposing as much trust and confidence in him as people would have liked.
In his first (and possibly lone) season with the 76ers, Watford turned in nightly averages of 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field. Having said that, he drained just 20 percent of his very limited attempts from three-point range. His playing time waned as the season progressed, and he ended up registering just 16.3 minutes per outing.
The 76ers should not decline their team option on Trendon Watford for next season
If there is one thing the 76ers badly need (and which they were exposed for during the playoffs), it is their lack of playable bodies off the bench. Now, Watford was obviously a part of the roster, but he did not get any kind of fair shake from the coaching staff due to his limitations on the offensive end. That being said, that could still change if he remains on the roster.
Outside of his puzzling abandonment of the three-point shot, Watford was actually quite the reliable sub for the team. He was arguably the most versatile and malleable player on the roster, filling a variety of roles to help the group mitigate the impact of the revolving door of injuries they faced all season long.
Nick Nurse deployed Watford as a quasi-guard at times, although he spent most of the season as a backup power forward. He was also one of the better defenders on the team. While he eventually got phased out of the rotation, those are the qualities any team would want from a player who primarily comes off the bench.
The 76ers have enough problems with financial flexibility and depth, so that makes it all the more important for them to keep someone like Trendon Watford in the fold. Otherwise, they could lose a viable rotation player for nothing while simultaneously execerbating their key weaknesses.
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