Sixers Waive Saben Lee, Sign Louis King To Two-Way Deal

4:30pm: King’s two-way deal and Lee’s release are now official, the Sixers announced in an email.

3:28pm: The Sixers are signing forward Louis King to a two-way contract, his agent George Langberg tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Both of Philadelphia’s two-way spots are currently occupied, so the team will be waiving guard Saben Lee to make room for King, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).

King spent one college season at Oregon before going undrafted in 2019. He has three years of NBA experience with the Pistons and Kings, all on two-way contracts. Sacramento waived him in February, making him a free agent.

In 26 career games (9.7 MPG), King holds averages of 4.2 PPG and 1.5 RPG on .392/.327/.684 shooting. Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, acquired hiss returning player rights at the end of September and he’s been playing for them in 2022/23. In 18 games with the Vipers, the 23-year-old averaged 19.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.4 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .451/.314/.778 shooting.

The 38th pick of the 2020 draft out of Vanderbilt, Lee spent his first two seasons with the Pistons, averaging 5.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 3.3 APG and 0.8 SPG on .434/.265/.731 shooting in 85 games (16.3 MPG). He was sent to Utah as part of the Bojan Bogdanovic trade in the offseason and was subsequently waived by the Jazz, despite having a guaranteed $1.84MM salary.

The 23-year-old signed contracts with Phoenix and Toronto in the preseason, but he was cut shortly after each deal was completed. Lee signed a two-way deal with the Sixers on November 23, though he hasn’t made an impact at the NBA level, appearing in just two games for 10 total minutes. However, he has put up big numbers in the G League this season, averaging a combined 23.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 6.4 APG and 1.5 SPG on .531/.308/.753 shooting splits with the Raptors 905 and the Delaware Blue Coats (Philadelphia’s affiliate).