Philadelphia 76ers NBA Trade and Roster Rumors: Sixers Will Go After Otto Porter Jr. This Offseason
Otto Porter Jr. wasn't always known for his three-point shooting. But that changed this past season when he emerged as a legitimate three-point threat while shooting 43.4 percent from beyond the arc. The improvement in his game was nothing short of amazing and suddenly he was drawing a lot of attention as he becomes a restricted free agent this summer.
Teams that are looking for someone to fill the increasingly important role of a three-and-D wing are expected to go after him once he hits the open market. And according to Sporting News' Sean Deveney, the Philadelphia 76ers are among the teams interested in signing Porter.
Potter is exactly the type of player the Sixers need on their roster. Since Ben Simmons isn't going to shoot much from the outside the Sixers really need a perimeter threat to keep the defense honest.
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Sure, Joel Embiid and Dario Šarić can also shoot from the outside, but they are nowhere as good as Potter. A center as good as Embiid shouldn't stay beyond the three-point line anyway. Not when he can do some serious damage inside the paint.
A lineup featuring Embiid, Simmons, Šarić and Porter sounds really good, but signing Potter isn't going to be easy. Deveney said the Brooklyn Nets and the Orlando Magic are interested in him as well and the Washington Wizards are expected to do everything possible to keep him.
It's also going to take a lot of money to sign him. In fact, he may even get a max offer if the Wizards can't get him to re-sign with them early on in the free agency period.
"If his situation goes past the first couple of days of free agency. It will cost them because some of these teams that have space and miss out on the players they have in mind to start with are going to move quickly to the restricted (free agents). And Otto Porter is going to be at the top of that list, even at $100 million," one general manager told Sporting News.
Can the Sixers swoop in and sign Porter?
