The Bucks, Sixers and Thunder are among the teams who have expressed interest in Dewayne Dedmon, Sean Deveney of the Sporting News reports. However, Milwaukee is no longer looking for a big man after acquiring Tyler Zeller from the Nets on Monday night, as Deveney points out (Twitter link).
The Sixers and Thunder are also searching for wing help but could trade for Dedmon to fortify their frontcourts.
Atlanta’s front office would like to move numerous players but Dedmon has attracted the most attention, Deveney adds. Dedmon, who played for the Spurs last season, missed over a month of action with a left leg injury but when healthy the 7-footer has been a rotation player. He’s started 21 of 34 games, averaging a career highs in scoring (10.0 PPG) and rebounding (7.7 RPG).
Dedmon has expanded his offensive game beyond the 3-point line this season and has made a healthy 38.3% of his attempts. He’s likely to re-enter the free agent market after the season. Dedmon, who is making $6MM this season, has a $6.3MM player option for next season and will likely exercise it, according to Deveney.
Since Dedmon would likely only be a rental, the Hawks won’t find a suitor willing to give up a first-round pick for him.
In terms of the teams reportedly interested in Dedmon, he’d serve as backup in Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid or Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams.
The sixers and the love for big men
Until Embiid can prove that he can play a full 82 games (or at least 70-75 games) with little to no injuries, I think Philly should always make sure they have good depth at PF/C. 71 games in three and half seasons isn’t enough to not worry about Embiid’s injury history.
We had depth in Noel and Jah, and traded both for essentially nothing. Add in the now awful fultz trade where gave up a high draft pick with nothing to show for it, and this front office is starting to look like a bunch of jackasses. If colangelo does this, I’m going to barf.
Let Fultz get on the floor for an extended period before you write him off a bust.