Philadelphia 76ers: Whatever happened to Shake Milton?

As the Philadelphia 76ers continue to shuffle through various rotations, one has to wonder whatever happened to Shake Milton.

At the start of the 2019-20 NBA season all the way back in October, Shake Milton looked like something special for the Philadelphia 76ers.

After spending the majority of his rookie season in Delaware, Elton Brand awarded Milton with a four-year, $6.9 million contract. Though the deal initially looked fishy, as Milton struggled in the Summer League miscast as an on-ball point guard, when the regular season opened up, things fell nicely into place for the SMU guard.

We’re talking a two-game stretch in October where Milton averaged 9.5 points in 12.5 minutes of action while knocking down 44 percent of his 3 point shots.

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Things were going so well for Shake that some openly questioned whether he should receive the first nod off the bench as a sixth man scorer over eventual favorite Furkan Korkmaz – including me, I said that here.

And then…. nothing.

You see, in the Sixers fourth game of the season, Milton hyper-extended his knee against the Atlanta Hawks. This kept Milton out through mid-November – and gave Korkmaz an opportunity to lock up a long-term role once and for all.

Over the aforementioned stretch, Korkmaz averaged a little over 13 points in 25.57 minutes of action a night. Though his averages have dropped notably with a larger sample size – now floating around eight points in 21 minutes of action – Milton’s role has been virtually nonexistent – appearing in six games for a combined total of 54 minutes.

Milton has actually played more minutes as a member of the Delaware Blue Coats by a pretty substantial margin, appearing in four games while averaging 17.8 points in 22.9 minutes of action a night.

He’s also knocking down 50 percent of his 4.5 3 point attempts a game, 3.3 percent less than Matisse Thybulle against far lesser opposition.

But what does this mean for Milton’s future? Clearly, he can’t be waived, not unless the Sixers want to be strapped with dead money for years, right?

No, what it really means is that Milton is now expendable.

If a team like the New Orleans Pelicans, Cleveland Cavaliers, or the Washington Wizards were to demand Milton’s inclusion in a deal for a player like J.J. Redick, Jordan Clarkson, or Dāvis Bertāns respectfully the Sixers would all but certainly do it.

Now that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as the Sixers traded their best homegrown shooter in darn near a decade as part of the LA Clippers deal that netted Tobias Harris, but finding a position versatile shooter on a bargain bin four-year deal is as good as gold for a cash-strapped team.

Unfortunately, Shake Milton may never be Landry Shamet – but really, that’s ok.

dark. Next. Oh God, is Mike Scott expendable?

With three and a half years left on his contract, the Philadelphia 76ers have a plethora of opportunities to see what Shake Milton can be at the NBA level. And if, for whatever reason, they opt to include him in a trade for a veteran scorer, well, hopefully he has an opportunity to showcase his skill set in a new environment.