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OK, it’s not like they have to after having one of the splashiest offseasons of all time.
In recent history, the Sixers haven’t been the most prolific at finding cheap, productive talent on the two-way market, but that wasn’t the case in 2025. Last offseason they brought in Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, both of whom were converted to standard contracts and played over 60 games for Philadelphia last season. Barlow was a contributor in their playoff run as well, making nine postseason appearances.
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Heading into this season, the Sixers are using their two-way contracts on two more Portland Trail Blazer castoffs: Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert. They are reportedly leaving their final spot open heading into training camp, according to Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com.
Love was a four-year college guard who signed a two-way with Portland after going undrafted in 2025. He played in 49 games as a rookie with one start. He got 20 minutes a game in that time and averaged 10.4 points shooting 38% from the field and 31% from three along with 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Rupert is a 6-foot-7 wing who was a mid second-round pick back in 2023. He played just 139 games in his three seasons as a Blazer, averaging 12 minutes a game putting up 3.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists. After being waived in February by Portland, Rupert was picked up by a Memphis Grizzlies team playing for lottery balls and got the most opportunity of his NBA career.
Playing 30 minutes a game for the Grizzlies he averaged 12.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game shooting 42% from the field and 33% from three. Those were also improvements on his 38 FG% and 32 3PM%.
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That uptick in steals feels like the most worth monitoring if Rupert is going to make an impact as a Sixer. The most encouraging sign is probably that he was forcing steals at the same rate in his 48 games for the Trail Blazers before being cut. The per game production was lower because he was playing a third of the minutes, but he posted a steal rate over 2% for the entire 2025-26 season, putting him in the 80th percentile, per Cleaning the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sixers-replicate-two-way-success-135508076.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-14 13:55:00
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