The Philadelphia 76ers should have never traded Landry Shamet

With six months of hindsight and a slow start to the 2019-20 season, it’s clear the Philadelphia 76ers should have never traded Landry Shamet to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Alright Philadelphia 76ers fans, I’d like to start this off with a big old disclaimer: I’m a fan of Tobias Harris.

I was stoked when Elton Brand made a surprise trade the day before the deadline last spring, I understood why the team re-signed him to a $180 million deal, all in all, Tobias Harris is alright in my book.

However, the Sixers should have never, never, never, never, never, ever included Landry Shamet in any trade midway through his rookie season.

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A 6-foot-5 converted point guard out of Wichita State, Shamet almost immediately found a place in Brett Brown‘s rotation as J.J. Redick‘s understudy coming off the bench.

With a knockdown outside shot and enough speed to get open with consistency, Shamet hit 99 of his 245 3-point attempts – the most of any Sixers rookie since Dario Saric his 106 in 2016-17. Shamet also finished out his (hopefully) first tenure in Philadelphia with a 40.4 shooting percentage from beyond the arc, the second-highest mark of any player on the team with at least 22 attempts behind only Mike Scott.

And so far, Shamet has definitively proved that he’s no system product with the Los Angeles Clippers.

In 35 regular-season games of action, Shamet has averaged career-highs in points, assists, and rebounds per game (10.4, 2.1, 2.0), all the while hitting an insane 42.6 percent of his shots from 3 point range on 6.0 attempts a game.

Do you know what the Sixers could really use right now? A switchable bench scorer who can knock down 42.6 percent of his outside shots and log some minutes at the point.

Through the first 13 games of the season, the Sixers don’t have a single consistent outside shooter who is knocking down 40 percent of his shots from 3 on more than two attempts a game. They also don’t have a consistent sixth-man who can come off the bench in relief of their starting five, with Furkan Korkmaz and Matisse Thybulle earning two and three starts respectfully in reserve of Joel Embiid, Al Horford, and Simmons.

Not to knock Raul Neto, Trey Burke, or even Josh Richardson, but Shamet’s three years of point guard experience could have also made him an ideal candidate to soak up minutes running the show in relief of Ben Simmons, all the while provided the team with an absolutely deadly shot coming off the bench.

Granted, Shamet has, and probably never will be a plus-defender, but paired up with Thybulle, Richardson, and (maybe at some point) Zhaire Smith, that deficiency becomes a whole lot less important.

Now on paper, I understand the rationale for including Shamet in a deal for Harris, Scott, and company, as outside shooting from the power forward position is much harder to find than from shooting guard. Still, through the first 13 games of the 2019-20 season none of the Sixers’ current reserve scorers, not Shake Milton, not Thybulle, and not even Korkmaz has played up to Shamet’s level.

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Landrey Shamet is special, and at the very least could have consistently filled the role of the Philadelphia 76ers sixth-man for the remainder of his contract. With experience playing both on and off the ball, the 22-year-old could have helped to fill the void left by his ex-teammate Jimmy Butler and develop into Brett Brown’s long-term ball-handling closer. But instead, he’ll be starting alongside Patrick Beverley, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George with the Los Angeles Clippers. Maybe it’s just me, but a Simmons, Shamet, Embiid Big 3 is something I’d have liked to see.