1:39pm: The team has officially re-signed Gordon, and in so doing, the Sixers have released Thomas, the team announced. That $474K partial guarantee for Thomas will remain on Philadelphia’s books for the rest of the season.
11:24am: The Sixers are set to bring back camp invitee Drew Gordon on a new deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). That means a corresponding move is on the way, since Philadelphia has been carrying the maximum 15 players, as our roster counts show. The 24-year-old has been playing for the Sixers D-League affiliate since Philly kept his D-League rights following his release from the NBA roster last month.
Gordon has played primarily overseas after going undrafted out of New Mexico in 2012. The power forward split last season between Italy and Turkey, showing efficiency on the boards in putting up 8.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per contest. He carried that sort of production over to the preseason this year, as he notched 6.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 20.3 MPG across six appearances. He’s the older brother of the Magic’s Aaron Gordon, the fourth overall pick from this past June.
It’s not easy to see who’ll be the Sixer to go, since they have five players on non-guaranteed contracts and another two with partial guarantees. All five of the non-guaranteed players have made at least one start for the team so far, with the exception of K.J. McDaniels, this year’s 32nd overall pick, who’d seem a most unlikely cut. JaKarr Sampson has made a pair of starts on his partially guaranteed deal, and while Malcolm Thomas has yet to make a start and is dealing with fluid in his left knee, his minimum salary is partially guaranteed for $474K, a larger guarantee than several of his teammates have.