Kendall Marshall Signs with Philadelphia 76ers
Kendall Marshall is back in the NBA. After a yearlong odyssey that started with a torn ACL, Marshall went from Milwaukee to Phoenix and then into limbo. Now he is back out of limbo by signing a four year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers according to reports from Basketball Insiders’ Eric Pincus. The Tar Heel point guard finds himself on another squad full of youth looking for direction, only this time he might actually help them find that direction.
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Marshall is only guaranteed $2.1 million his first year. After that the values decrease and are not guaranteed. This makes both for the 76ers and for Marshall. The 76ers are trying to stay above the salary cap floor but want future flexibility. Marshall is looking for guarantees to go against injury risk and deserves the right to play his way to a bigger role.
That role did not develop with the Bucks, where Brandon Knight ate the big minutes and Marshall found himself traded midseason. The Bucks had claimed Marshall on waivers, so you might have thought they valued him a little. However the Bucks success and later trade for Michael Carter-Williams makes Marshall’s lack of action a moot point.
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Based on the 76ers roster, Marshall should have more opportunities. His best friends should be young big men Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel. Neither can really create their own shot, but Marshall can get it to them in places where they won’t have to do much of that. Marshall will have to share minutes with other guards like Tony Wroten, so he won’t be handed anything.
The 76ers are a hard team to figure out. This figures to be another season near the bottom of the League as they try to fix Joel Embiid’s foot. That foot already had them draft Okafor and probably put them a year back in their timeline. That is if you believe Sam Hinkie has a timeline.