Trendon Watford posted a triple-double while making his first start for the Sixers on Saturday and earned a comparison to peak Ben Simmons from teammate Joel Embiid, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). Watford finished with 20 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, all season highs, in a victory over Toronto.
“He’s kind of what you call a hooper,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters. “He really, really knows how to play, and he can do a lot of different things that we talked about.”
According to Pompey, Nurse was hoping to acquire Watford from Brooklyn last season, but a deal couldn’t be worked out. He pushed to sign Watford in free agency, and it’s looking like a great investment. The 25-year-old forward is averaging 10.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists through six games and has become a valuable member of the rotation. He’s making $2.5MM this season, and the team holds a $2.8MM option for 2026/27.
A hamstring injury prevented Watford from participating in training camp or the preseason and forced him to miss the first three games of the regular season. He tells Tony Jones of The Athletic that he’s glad that experience is behind him.
“I hope it’s something that I don’t have to deal with going forward,” Watford said. “Hamstrings are difficult because you can’t do anything when you have that injury. All you can do is kind of sit around and get out of shape.”
There’s more on the Sixers:
- Nurse will be facing a difficult lineup decision with Paul George potentially returning soon, Pompey adds in the same piece. There’s been an assumption that George would replace Kelly Oubre Jr. in the starting lineup, but Pompey states that Oubre has been playing too well to demote. He’s been an important contributor on both ends of the court, averaging 19.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks in nine games. “I think Kelly has been really outstanding,” Nurse said. “You saw him. he was fighting (Brandon) Ingram most of the night. He’s done that consistently, where he’s got one of the better scorers in the league or the other team and keeps working and working. He’s been really good and done a good job of playing physical.”
- Embiid scored a season-high 29 points on Saturday, but he didn’t force any shots and made an effort to get his teammates involved in the offense, Pompey observes in a separate story. “It’s just about moving the ball,” he said. “Passing to the open guy. Like I said, I’m not too worried about the offense. I think we know what we have to do, especially sharing the ball.”
- The Sixers’ good fortune in keeping their first-round pick at the lottery and their decision to select VJ Edgecombe when there was no consensus on the third-best draft prospect have changed the trajectory of the franchise for the future, Yossi Gozlan states in his Third Apron column (subscription required).
And because the Sixers and Mavs… 2 teams with loads of talent and no business at the top of the nba draft got lucky in the lottery, we’ll be seeing a bunch more teams tanking in the 2nd half… you know that the Celts will suddenly have their starters all go down with injuries.
The idea that these gambling investigations were such a big story because ‘they threaten the integrity of the game’ is really a slap in the face to fans who endure teams openly trying to sabotage their seasons to get a shot at a top draft pick… on top of the load management fiasco that gets worse every year. The nba has to change the lottery system. This has become a huge problem and Silver is just ignoring it.
A sixers hater getting nervous about the sixers getting healthy.
The sixers got Watford for less than Knicks Gave Yabusele and he can’t even get off the Knicks bench. Sixers also got younger in that deal. Nice move by Sixers
I feel like thats more so because of Mike Brown than Yabusele himself
Well shooting 27% FG from the floor doesn’t help when u don’t add anything defensively. I wouldn’t play him much either if he wasn’t knocking down shots
I remember when Watford signed with Philly, many of us here were saying that he was a great pick-up. I was a little surprised that he signed for a min 1+1 team option. I thought he deserved more.
When he came on against Washington, he kind of changed the game. Didn’t have the biggest impact in terms of stats or plays, but made Philly’s game more streamlined and added a certain clarity to it.
I was specifically watching him when Philly played Cleveland, and he was fantastic. He looked like the best ball handler and decision maker for his team.
And yesterday I only watched the game because of him. He did not disappoint :) What a performance. And it was not a random triple-double because he found himself in the right spots at the right time. It was nothing like that 2-way guy for LAL who went off in Portland.
Watford ran that game yesterday. He’s absurdly good on the ball. Especially for an undrafted PF.
His game is elegant in a way that Sengun’s or Jokic’s game is. And while he’s not a stock machine, he plays very well when the opponent has the ball due to his positioning, use of size and smarts.
Every team in the NBA could use a player like that.
Yet another real NBA player from that 2021 class who went undrafted. Austin Reaves, Jose Alvarado, Sam Hauser, Champagnie twins, Jay Huff, Brandon Williams (who has played 8 games for Dallas and was +24 yesterday), Keaton Wallace is getting an opportunity in Atlanta. Plus other guys who have been on contracts and went overseas or are fighting for their place in the NBA from the G-League.