NBA Trade Rumors: 7 fringe contenders that need to make a deal

Philadelphia 76ers

Recent losses to the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns exposed some ugly truths for the Philadelphia 76ers. With sixth man Shake Milton sidelined for both of those games, the Sixers’ bench was rudderless on offense.

“That second unit has had that problem, on and off, all year,” head coach Doc Rivers told reporters Saturday. “… The ball has to move… and that’s been one of the problems we’ve had with that unit throughout. They’re all scorers in that unit. Tyrese [Maxey] is really a scorer. Tobias [Harris], who we use as a scorer. Shake’s a scorer. Furkan [Korkmaz is] a scorer. We need somebody to pass to each other.”

The Sixers’ starting five is outscoring opponents by 15.1 points per 100 possessions, and the Harris-plus-reserves unit is a similarly potent plus-16.0. But lineups without Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid or Harris are getting outscored by 14.3 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the third percentile league-wide.

Adding another ball-handler and shooter to the bench should help that unit stay afloat until the starters return. Rivers has also bemoaned their lack of depth at the 4-spot behind Simmons and Harris, and a stretch big could unlock some Simmons-at-the-5 lineup combinations that have struggled thus far.

The Sixers have an $8.2 million traded player exception courtesy of the Al Horford/Danny Green trade, and they could combine the contracts of Mike Scott ($5.0 million), Terrence Ferguson ($3.9 million) and Vincent Poirier ($2.6 million) to bring back more than $14 million of salary. They also have $4.8 million of their mid-level exception remaining, which should help them out on the buyout market after the trade deadline.