Fresh off a loss to the same team last Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers exacted revenge on their tormentors last night, locking up the surging Orlando Magic en route to an impressive 102-94 victory, giving them their sixth win of the season and climbing to 13th place in the East after weeks of inactivity in the standings.
With Paul George and even Andre Drummond back in action, the 76ers were able to match the Magic's sheer size and length, and on the heels of one of their best defensive performances this season, eventually pulled away to record an encouraging win while still being without Joel Embiid, who was previously reported to possibly return in this game.
While George led the team in scoring, Philadelphia enjoyed a well-rounded game from nearly everyone. A glance at the boxscore, however, will give fans some unexpected sighting that could very well change a lot of things for the club this season.
Expected trade candidate KJ Martin continues strong play for the 76ers
Despite the 76ers still lounging at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, they are only two game back of the 10th place, the last play-in spot, so there is clearly a ton of time for them to close the deficit in their win-loss card.
Nothing is guaranteed, though, especially with this injury-prone roster. That is precisely why there has already been a lot of trade chatter around the team as of late, especially with transaction tables starting to open soon.
One name that has been constantly hoisted as someone the 76ers can flip is KJ Martin, who was obviously re-signed by the front office to an above-market deal so they can eventually use him as a trade chip. That has been the prevailing sentiment all season long, but recently, the young forward is making the team re-examine that notion.
Martin posted 20 points against Orlando, turning in his best game this season. Yet no one should call that an aberration –– while that is way beyond his normal scoring average, the 23-year-old has been a pretty solid backup for the team as their resident pick-and-roll operator.
So far, Martin has averaged 6.7 points in only 18.9 minutes per outing, shooting 63 percent from the field. He has also shown more willingness to fire off from deep recently, and has already canned 35.7 percent of his limited three-point attempts –– hardly a laudable number, but still an encouraging step toward his development.
If this keeps up, the 76ers can only be well-served. Either way, they can keep playing him and retain a high-efficiency motor guy who can play great defense, or flip him for a potentially better return that what they anticipated they would get for him at first blush.
Hopefully, KJ Martin keeps playing consistent basketball on both ends. The Philadelphia 76ers have had way too many guys get off to terrible starts this season, and if they want to repair they self-inflicted wounds, they cannot afford any more of them.