After a lengthy break thanks to the annual All-Star festivities, the Philadelphia 76ers return to the hardwood with a potentially season-defining matchup with their archrivals, the Boston Celtics. This time around, they coould be fully armed against the defending champions, especially after signing Lonnie Walker IV to fill the last roster spot.
Heading into their final 38 games this season, the 76ers have no other choice but to rack up as many wins as possible if they want to make the playoffs and actually be a force therein. For now, they remain a whopping 14 games below .500, just outside of the play-in tournament picture in the Eastern Conference.
But to close the gap, Philadelphia will have to tally a near-perfect slate to end the season. That way, they could even have a fighting chance to make it to the top-six from which they are 8.5 games away. To help them attain that, the front office must remain opportunistic and see to it that they do not leave any window closed to improve the roster, even this late into the season.
The 76ers can no longer pursue Bojan Bogdanovic in the buyout market
Walker’s addition, in all honesty, does not do much to address two of the 76ers’ most gaping holes: three-point shooting and size at the forward position. But just recently, the buyout market actually had the perfect target in store for them — Bojan Bogdanovic.
A clear misfit in Brooklyn, the veteran forward was widely pinpointed as a prime buyout candidate. However, that is now a complete impossibility thanks to this sudden news.
As reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Croatian forward has decided to undergo a season-ending foot surgery. It must be noted that just a month ago, Bogdanovic was cleared to resume on-court activites after not having played for approximately 10 months, dating back to his brief stint in New York last season.
Naturally, that takes him out of the loop for the 76ers (or anyone, for that matter). With the arrival of Walker, the front office actually became incentivized to drop one of their own players touting the same skill set to perhaps make room for a more pressing addition, which could have been Bogdanovic.
In fact, the Nets subsequently waived Bogdanovic to pave the way for them to take a flier on Killian Hayes, the erratic and former lottery pick.
Anyway, the Philadelphia 76ers will have to look elsewhere to solve those two, big issues. Otherwise, they could find themselves struggling immensely against teams boasting size across the board while also being a predictable bunch offensively thanks to their lack of sharpshooters.