Would the Philadelphia 76ers trade Shake Milton for Kenrich Williams?

The Philadelphia 76ers find themselves in a tricky situation.

No, not because of the Ben Simmons situation, the lack of superstar players asking for their way out, or even because of their multiple bouts with COVID. The Sixers are in a tricky situation because Shake Milton is reportedly out for the foreseeable future with no timetable to return.

That’s right, when asked about Milton’s status after the Sixers’ win over the Boston Celtics, Doc Rivers suggested that he could beat the fourth-year guard out of SMU in a race right now, which, no offense to Austin’s dad, is not exactly a ringing endorsement for a player with a back injury.

If Milton can’t go for a while, say three months, what are the Sixers to do? Should they just hold his spot, wait it out, and hope he can assimilate back onto the roster in time for the playoffs, or should they start to look into potential replacements to fill his roster spot in a surprisingly competitive season?

Considering there’s no guarantee “the big one” happens any time soon, it might just be time to start looking into the latter, especially with very tangible needs at key areas of concern across their roster.

Considering Shake Milton’s cap number, the Philadelphia 76ers’ desire to hold onto their first-round pick, and any players who could help to swing a big deal, there aren’t a lot of viable deals that could be done, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few, including one for OKC Thunder forward Kenrich Williams.

Kenrich Williams is a fun forward option for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Kenrich Williams is the fourth-oldest player on the OKC Thunder.

Now granted, that isn’t a particularly tough bar to clear, as the Thunder are the youngest team in the NBA with an average age of 23.7, but still, for a 27-year-old theoretically in the early throws of his NBA prime, being stuck on a team with a win percentage well under .500 probably isn’t ideal.

No wonder Williams was reportedly available last season for a second-round pick; he’s more of an asset than a prospect for the Thunder.

And, to the credit of “Kenny Hustle,” an asset he very much is. Since being acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans as part of the four-team Jrue Holiday trade in 2020, the UDFA combo forward out of TCU is a quality secondary playmaker, a very good wing defender, and a deceptively good shooter who makes up for a lack of volume with plus efficiency.

During his 102 game run in OKC, Williams is making a very impressive 42 percent of his attempts from 3 – on 1.9 per game – 47.9 percent of his shots from the corners, and 38.9 percent of his shots from above the break. On catch-and-shoot attempts, Williams is making 42.6 percent of his attempts on 1.52 attempts per game, which would rank third and 12th respectively on the Sixers in 2021-22.

Though Williams had only averaged 2.2 assists per game over the past two seasons, his combined assist percentage of 15.7 is exceptionally high for a player who only averages 29.1 touches per game and would rank seventh on the Sixers in 2021-22, right behind Milton at 17.1.

And as for defense? Well, let’s just say when you rank eighth in Defensive RAPTOR rating according to FiveThirtyEight, one spot behind Matisse Thybulle, you are in pretty good company.

Factor in the, well, fact that Williams is under contract through 2022-23 at an AAV of $2 million, and there’s a lot to like about his fit on a playoff team in need of some additional size, shooting, and secondary playmaking.

Do the Philadelphia 76ers fall into that camp? Well, I guess that depends on how they feel about Shake Milton long-term.

Like Williams, Milton has one more year left on his contract at a rookie scale number. While he’s even a poor fit as an on-ball point guard for much of his career, the 25-year-old has still averaged 12.2 points per game over the past two seasons, even if he’s seen his averages drop considerably from his early 2020 heyday.

For the Thunder, acquiring Milton would be a no-brainer. He’s young enough to be a piece alongside their young core in the short-term, remains a trade chip for another team down the line – probably the Lakers – and can comfortably rehab until his back is 100 percent without any pressure to get back for a playoff run.

But what about the Sixers? Would they trade Milton and a second-round pick for a player like Williams who can play now? Or would they prefer to hold onto the fourth-year guard and maybe aggregate his contract in another deal? Could Milton eventually become the bigger playmaker who can take over once Tyrese Maxey leaves the court and play alongside him in pass-focused lineups? And what about Williams? He’d be a very helpful secondary playmaker alongside Maxey, Seth Curry, and Joel Embiid too, and would provide the sort of two-way efficiency the Sixers are looking for at the end of games should his outside efficiency hold tight on three times the attempts.

These are the questions Daryl Morey and company will surely talk through over the next few weeks.

There’s no doubt about it, Kenrich Williams is one of the NBA’s more underrated roleplayers. He has an efficiency differential of +15.3, which ranks in the 96th percentile according to Cleaning the Glass, and backs that up with elite numbers in assist percentage and assist-to-usage rate stats. Shake Milton, by contract, is a very inefficient player who scores more points but doesn’t provide much in the way of plus playmaking or floor spacing. If he can’t play anytime soon, it might not be the worst idea for the Philadelphia 76ers to pursue low-level deals to add an immediate difference-maker while they wait for a bigger Ben Simmons deal to come to fruition.