Philadelphia 76ers: Is the Jerryd Bayless era over in Philly?

After struggling to get his game back on track following a wrist injury, is Jerryd Bayless’ tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers coming to an end?

After news broke that Ersan Ilyasova intends to return to Philly after being bought out of his contract with the Atlanta Hawks, it appears as though the Philadelphia 76ers roster is getting a late-season minor facelift, with one of its players soon to be the odd man out.

With only four players, J.J. Redick, Marco Belinelli, Amir Johnson and Trevor Booker on one-year deals, and all four playing key roles for the team could this Ilyasova’s roster spot come at the expense of 10th-year vet Jerryd Bayless?

It’s starting to look more and more likely.

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After starting the season out as the team’s starting point guard, the emergence of Ben Simmons and Dario Saric as legitimate starting caliber players ultimately relegated the guard to the bench, a role he didn’t exactly thrive in.

Whether it be rustiness from missing the vast majority of the 2016-2017 NBA season or the continued side effects of a broken wrist, Bayless struggled mightily to be productive when he saw the court, much to the disdain of fans on Twitter. Once considered the team’s sixth man, Bayless has been a healthy scratch for Brett Brown‘s squad for the last six games, a trend that doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.

But much to the surprise of many Philly fans, Bayless was once considered a major get for a young Philly squad.

When the team signed Bayless in 2016, he was coming off of the best season of his NBA career, averaging over 10 points a game while hitting an impressive 43 percent of his three-point shots while coming off the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks. At 6-foot-3, many viewed Bayless has a perfect combo guard to pair with 2016 first overall pick Ben Simmons, as he could be effective both on and off the ball, and serve as a secondary ball handler. But much like Simmons, Bayless spent almost the entire 2016-2017 season on the bench. Though 71 minutes of action was hardly what the team expected from their prized free agent acquisition when they signed him to a 3-year, $27 million deal, many inside the organization lauded Bayless for his mentorship of Simmons, his presumed backcourt mate moving forward.

But after drafting Markelle Fultz first overall in 2017, signing Redick, and the emergence of T.J. McConnell as a legitimate second team spark plug, Bayless has struggled to find minutes. And with recently waived scorers Ilyasova and Belinelli now in the fold, it doesn’t look like that role is going to change anytime soon. Even second-year wingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has been getting minutes over Bayless recently.

While it’s never fun to eat $9 million in dead money, Bayless simply isn’t helping the team sitting on the bench. With only $70 million in dedicated cap space next season, the 76ers could stomach eating Bayless’ contract and still be big players in the free agent market, with the flexibility to go after marquee free agents like, say LeBron James.

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Though Bayless was once considered a perfect fit for their roster, it’s abundantly clear that his time on this team has run its course, and with Ilyasova’s return imminent, it may just be better for all parties involved if the Philadelphia 76ers cut their losses and buyout Jerryd Bayless’ contract.