Andre Drummond, who has been sidelined since March 12 with a sprained left toe, will miss at least five more games before being reevaluated in a week, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).
Given how little time is left in the season and the Sixers‘ position near the bottom of the standings, it seems likely that Drummond’s year could be finished. Philadelphia will only have four games remaining after his reevaluation and needs to protect its first-round draft pick, which will convey to Oklahoma City if it falls outside the top six.
The 31-year-old center signed a two-year contract last summer with the expectation of serving as a backup to Joel Embiid on a title-contending team. However, injuries to Embiid and nearly every other rotation player destroyed the Sixers’ season and left them currently with the sixth-worst record in the league at 23-50.
Drummond has experienced his own injury issues, primarily with the toe, as he’s been limited to 40 games in his 13th NBA season. He’s averaging 7.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in 18.8 minutes per night while shooting 50% from the field.
Drummond’s contract includes a $5MM player option for next season, with a decision due by June 29. He may be able to find a better offer on the open market, but the Sixers could be motivated to offer a new deal if he declines the option, considering Embiid’s continued fragility.
Why even release this story? Everyone knows failadelphia is mailing it in. Might as well say Andre Drummond is going on vacation to the moon. Smdh
Could this of gone any worse? Just an unlucky bounce of the ping pong ball away from complete disaster.
Aren’t you getting sick of this stuff? Pretend injuries to go home and count money
Pity because Drummond is only 31. Under ‘normal’ conditions, he could continue playing for a number of years. But once this contract is up, he’ll have to settle playing for crumbs. Nobody’s touching him with a large contract again.
He has a player option.
Well, in order for them to continue getting Hardship exceptions, players need to be legitimately injured.
There should be almost zero incentive to throw more money at a backup center who himself missed half the season regardless of Embiid’s status