Kicking off the NBA trade deadline with a quick bench upgrade, Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers have landed veteran PG George Hill.
With the NBA trade deadline now in full swing, Daryl Morey and the Sixers have made their first major move of the afternoon. According to a handful of different sources, the Sixers have traded Terrance Ferguson, Tony Bradley, Vincent Poirier, and initially two, now three future second-round picks for veteran PG George Hill.
Hill had been linked to the Sixers for quite some time now, as he’s an established veteran guard who instantly enters Philadelphia as their best backup point guard. He should in theory take the reigns of the team’s second unit, alongside the likes of Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and Dwight Howard.
Hill is currently averaging 11.8 points and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 38.6% from beyond the arc, however, he did shoot a league-leading 46% from three last year with the Milwaukee Bucks. Obviously, Doc Rivers and the Sixers would prefer to see the veteran guard trend back towards his 2020 numbers.
The departure of Tony Bradley stings just a tad, as he was showing some serious promise as a rotational big man, but other than that this is a fairly cheap price to pay for a guy who should immediately come in and improve the Sixers’ inconsistent bench unit. Terrance Ferguson hadn’t gotten any serious playing time all season long, and three future second-round picks is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
The Sixers also managed to keep all of their major trade assets during this transaction (Maxey, Thybulle, Green, first-round picks), so there could be further moves to follow over the coming hours. However, one does have to wonder if this rules Philadelphia out of the Kyle Lowry sweepstakes, seeing as Hill plays the same position as the soon-to-be-traded Toronto point guard.
George Hill isn’t the biggest of splashes compared to what some of the other teams around the NBA have already done, but it’s a “win-now” move nevertheless.
It’s also worth nothing that the Philadelphia 76ers also received Iggy Brazdeikis from the Knicks as a piece to the deal, for whatever that’s worth.
