The Philadelphia 76ers made a savvy move in the 2021 offseason when they brought in 2-time All-Star Andre Drummond on a veteran’s minimum deal. It was viewed with some head-scratching at that point due to his past beef with Joel Embiid.
However, Drummond and Embiid played nicely and Drummond was easily the best backup big man the big fella had in his time in Philadelphia.
Drummond averaged 6.1 points and 8.8 rebounds in 49 games with 12 starts for the Sixers and he gave the team some confidence they could go to him whenever Embiid was out. Philadelphia did not struggle as much without the big fella on the floor and Drummond was a big reason for it.
When he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the James Harden deal, the Sixers really had a tough time coming up with good backup minutes. DeAndre Jordan was signed, but he is clearly not the same player and Paul Reed is an energetic young player, but his penchant for fouling was an issue.
As free agency gets set to begin on Thursday evening, Bleacher Report put together of should be offseason targets for each team and they have Drummond as the should be target for the Sixers:
Prior to Drummond’s departure, Philadelphia’s net rating was 9.4 points better with Embiid on the floor than it was without him. After that trade, the number swelled to a whopping 16.2.
Having someone who can dominate the boards and at least take up space defensively when Embiid is out went a long way toward stabilizing those minutes. If Drummond will come back for the taxpayer midlevel (or some portion of it; his salary was only $2.4 million last season), the Sixers should try to make it happen.
An addition of Drummond seems a bit unlikely due to an assumption that he probably won’t take a smaller deal for a second straight offseason. He also would probably like a larger role and get back to being a starter so it would be surprising to see him return to the Sixers.
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