The Athletic’s NBA Insider Shams Charania recently discussed Sixers’ two-way player Paul Reed in his latest NBA Inside Pass.
“76ers rookie Paul Reed — aka “BBall Paul” — finished an impressive run in the G-League’s bubble in Orlando for the Delaware Blue Coats: 22.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, two steals and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range. Reed is on a two-way contract, but look for him to have that converted to a standard NBA deal at some point.”
This news comes as a bit of a surprise on many levels. The timing of it is somewhat peculiar, as we are just over a week away from the transaction madness that is the NBA trade deadline on March 25. The Sixers have a full roster with 15 players, and it would require a move for them to convert Reed’s deal; that could be in the form of a waive or trade.
It’s possible that the Sixers could have a two-for-one deal in the works in which they trade away two players and receive one in exchange, which would free up a spot for Paul Reed. However, this is just pure speculation.
Going back to the timing of this, it’s still a bit of a surprise to have a rumor from such a reliable source come out right now. While Paul Reed dominated the G League, the Sixers are pretty loaded in their frontcourt as currently constructed. It’s possible that the recent Joel Embiid injury along with Reed’s stellar play in the G League Bubble made the Sixers take a look at his current situation. The Sixers currently have big men reserves in Dwight Howard, Tony Bradley, and Vincent Poirier on standard NBA deals. Howard and Bradley, specifically, have been playing their best basketball of the season in the recent stretch of games.
On the other hand, the Sixers don’t need to convert Paul Reed this season. The NBA recently lifted the 45-day limit on all two-way contracts, meaning that Reed could play an unlimited amount of games this season and into the postseason on his current contract. The only rational to converting Reed would be to get him on a multi-year contract and/or to free up a two-way spot for another prospect.
It’s possible that we will have a better understanding behind this report in the near future, as the NBA trade landscape shakes out next Thursday. It turns out that Paul Reed may soon be out of the mud for good.