Philadelphia 76ers: Why is Marial Shayok still unsigned?

One former Philadelphia 76ers draftee is still looking for a home.

Say what you will about the Philadelphia 76ers‘ current roster construction, but Daryl Morey has certainly placed his stamp on a roster that clearly couldn’t hang in 2019-20.

In came a slew of new faces both name-brand and under the radar, and out went players that had either worn out their welcome or no longer fit into Philly’s plans moving forward.

For most of these players, the transition was rather seamless. Alec Burks latched on with the New York Knicks, Glenn Robinson III (eventually) signed on with a really fun to watch Sacramento Kings squad, and even Raul Neto found near-instant employment with the Washington Wizards. But one of the team’s more unfortunate souls still looking for employment elsewhere is none other than the Sixers’ 2019 second-round pick Marial Shayok.

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Selected with the 56th overall pick – the very same pick interim GM Brett Brown used to select Shake Milton one year prior – Shayok came to the City of Brotherly Love without a whole lot of fanfare. He spent his first three years of college eligibility as a role player with the Virginia Cavaliers – capped off with an 8.9 points in 20.6 minutes per game junior season where he started 14-34 games – before transferring to Iowa State, where he started all 34 games alongside future NBA players like Talen Horton-Tucker and 2021 Rookie of the Year candidate Tyrese Haliburton.

Now on paper, Shayok didn’t exactly scream ‘NBA player.’ By all accounts during the pre-draft process, Shayok wasn’t exactly the most dynamic athlete, was an average-at-best shooter from beyond the arc, and lacked the defensive upside typically associated with a 24-year-old rookie.

But when Shayok took the court, almost exclusively with the Sixers’ G-League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, none of those measurables really mattered.

Appearing in 36 games with 33 starts for Delaware’s only professional basketball team, Shayok averaged a scorching 22.4 points in 29.3 minutes of action a night in addition to 3.7 assists and 5.8 rebounds. While his 3 point shooting percentage left a bit to be desired at 35.8, he was attempting 7.2 shots a game and basically served as the team’s first, second, and only offensive option in many a contest. His ball-dominant, Kobe-esque mid-range game garnered the rookie nicknames like ‘The Poutine Mamba’ and got many a fan excited to see what the Ottawa, Canada native could do at the NBA-level.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t great.

Chalk it up to a 28-minute sample size, but in his four-game call-up, Shayok looked outgunned when facing off against legit NBA defenses. His dominant mid-range game disappeared, and he only made 3-12 shots he attempted from the field.

But hey, that’s okay. Milton’s rookie season wasn’t anything to sneeze at, and he turned into a pretty gosh darn good player midway through his sophomore season. With Shayok locked into a two-way contract, the Sixers could have signed him to a four-year, $7.8 million rookie deal, or even another two-way, and let him develop for the foreseeable future.

Except they didn’t, as you already know.

Maybe it’s because Shayok is already 25 years old. Maybe the Sixers really liked Dakota Matisse more than Shayok or felt they had enough off-ball wing prospects after landing Isaiah Joe in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft, but that’s neither here nor there. No, what I’m wondering is why no other NBA team saw Shayok, a 2020 G-League All-Star, available on the open market and offered him a contract, two-way or otherwise.

Seriously, you’re telling me there wasn’t one other franchise with minutes to spare who couldn’t use some plug-‘n-play shooting guard play coming off the bench? The Cleveland Cavaliers signed Norvelle Pelle to an Exhibit 10 contract to secure his G-League rights a day before they trimmed their roster down to 15 – a move the Sixers pulled off too with the addition of Frank Mason II – you’re telling me another team couldn’t have done something similar with Shayok?

Who knows, maybe Shayok is simply waiting to see how things shake out with the G-League before he and his agent make a firm decision. With the league set to open up a 12-15 game season at the NBA’s Orlando Bubble in early February, maybe Shayok is hoping to hear his name called near the top of the 2021 G League Draft and put together another massive season before cashing in later that summer.

I’m sure the Blue Coats wouldn’t mind getting Shayok back in their ranks for this abbreviated season, as he really did carry that team for much of their previous season.

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Whether due to a lack of interest, a lack of quality offers, or the hopes of a first-round selection in the 2021 G-League Draft, it’s pretty surprising to see Marial Shayok remain unsigned at this point in the 2020-21 NBA calendar year. While he’s far from an ideal modern-day NBA prospect, ‘The Poutine Mamba’ can score in his sleep and could still one day become a viable deep bench rotational piece for a team willing to put in the player development work. Oh well, he’ll probably resurface as a member of the Miami Heat before we know it and make fans wonder why the Philadelphia 76ers ever let him go.