At last, the Philadelphia 76ers rolled out their free agent signing, Dean Wade, to make his debut with the team against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Entering the matchup, the 76ers listed Wade as questionable due to an ankle injury that he suffered during the final game of the preseason against the Boston Celtics. Although the Sixers left the door open for Wade to play in the first two games of the regular season, he was ultimately ruled out both times.
The Milwaukee Bucks matchup was a different story. Wade was questionable going into the action and was eventually upgraded to available. With LeBron James out for the night, the Sixers called on Dean Wade to start for the team during his first appearance.
Dean Wade's 76ers debut went as expected
One word to describe Dean Wade's Cleveland Cavaliers tenure: Consistent.
Since 2019, Wade spent seven seasons playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. While he was mostly a reserve during that time, Wade collected his fair share of starts, landing in the starting five 160 times out of 342 appearances. During his Cavaliers tenure, Wade posted averages of 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists, while shooting 36.7% from three.
The Sixers saw that and were willing to offer Dean Wade a four-year deal worth $38.7 million. They ended up seeing the same sample of consistency during his 28-minute shift against the Bucks.
During that time, Wade attempted just three shots from the field. All of them came from beyond the arc, and he found success on two out of three attempts. Wade also got to the charity stripe for a few shots, going 1-for-3 from the free-throw line. He finished the game with seven points.
Along with his scoring, Wade came down with two rebounds. Defensively, he showed a lot of value by coming up with three steals and blocking a shot. It was a promising first performance from Wade, who played a slightly different position in the absence of James.
If Wade gets cleared to play in the second game of the back-to-back on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons, he could find himself testing different roles once again. LeBron James hasn't suffered any setbacks lately, so he should be cleared to return against the Pistons. However, Joel Embiid might be the one to get a night of rest on Sunday, as he made it clear he wasn't going to play in back-to-backs. Embiid checked in for 36 minutes against the Bucks on Saturday.
If Nick Nurse's preseason comments about Wade are any indication, there is a strong chance the forward could get some minutes at the center position on Sunday night.
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