Letting Andre Drummond walk felt like a mistake for the Philadelphia 76ers just a couple of hours into the 2026-2027 NBA season.
Suiting up for the first time with the New York Knicks, Drummond faced his former team for 24 minutes off the bench. He started the year off on a great foot, posting a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Sixers basically swapped with the Knicks to replace Drummond by picking up the young veteran Ariel Hukporti, who was a New York castoff. The Sixers were banking on Hukporti battling against Adem Bona and finding the better backup of the two. Unfortunately, they lost Hukporti in the preseason. He's out for the year with an Achilles tear.
Bona is back after missing the preseason, but he's still lacking consistency early on. As the Sixers watch Bona struggle at times and continue to play through thin depth at the center spot, the last thing the Sixers needed was to watch their former backup dominate off the bench for their rival team, which recently won the title. Well, that first performance hasn't translated to follow-up showings for Drummond and the Knicks.
Andre Drummond enters a sticky situation early
All offseason long, the Knicks held a battle behind Drummond. After trying out multiple bigs, James Wiseman was the winner. It was an expected scenario, considering Wiseman has a fan in Mike Brown, dating back to his Golden State Warriors days.
Just three games in, Brown already offered some of Drummond's minutes to Wiseman. After that 24-minute showing against the Sixers, Drummond averaged just seven minutes of playing time in the next two games. Wiseman went from a DNP, to two minutes, to seven minutes against the Orlando Magic on Sunday.
Mike Brown was asked about benching Drummond on Sunday, and the head coach explained that an issue with transition defense led to his decision. Plus, the Knicks are off to a shocking 0-3 start. Of course, struggles warrant change. It might not be a permanent decision, but the Knicks felt it was worth seeing if Wiseman filled the minutes better.
Drummond had four points and three rebounds in seven minutes. He was a minus-one on the night. Wiseman went 0-for-5 from the field and came down with two rebounds. Statistically, Drummond had the better showing, but the decision to bench him showed that he has a short leash in NYC at the moment.
The Sixers certainly shouldn't feel great about their situation at the moment. After all, they had to start the 41-year-old LeBron James at center in just their fourth game of the year on Sunday. However, outside of a quick revenge game, Drummond isn't making the Sixers regret their decision to allow him to walk.
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