Philadelphia 76ers: Sign Danuel House to a 10-day contract

In case you haven’t heard, the Philadelphia 76ers have traded Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for James Harden and Paul Millsap.

This deal, while far from plug-‘n-play, undoubtedly makes the Sixers better, as they effectively swapped out a solid starting shooting guard and a backup center for a nine-time All-Star in the short term and have watched their championship odds vault up as a result.

But did you notice one key aspect of Daryl Morey‘s signature trade that isn’t getting nearly as much hype as the subtraction of Simmons and the addition of Harden? That this deal opens up a roster spot for the Sixers to go out and secure the services of another player.

What should the team do? Should they wait it out and hope a good shooter becomes available via a buyout? Or should they instead scour the G-League looking for a youngster who can really let it fly? For my money, why not split the difference and sign another former Daryl Morey player, Danuel House, to a 10-day contract and go from there?

The Philadelphia 76ers could use a long wing like Danuel House.

When Garrison Mathews emerged as a viable rotation player in Houston, the Rockets waived Danuel House to free up a roster spot for the 25-year-old shooter.

For House, surely this came as a relief, as he went from a big-time rotation piece with Mike D’Antoni’s iteration of the club to a 14.6 minutes per game guy under Stephen Silas and was firmly a square peg in the team’s new youth-focused philosophy, but since that day back in December, his travel itinerary has been loaded.

His cross-NBA sightseeing tour began in New York, where he signed a 10-day contract with Spike Lee’s favorite team. As a Knickerbocker, he appeared in one game, played three minutes, and merrily went on his way. He then signed not one, not two, but three 10-day contracts with the Utah Jazz, where he averaged 8.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 19.3 minutes of action while hitting 41.7 percent of his 24 attempts from beyond the arc.

Those numbers, obviously, are very good, but with the trade deadline on the horizon and an opportunity to swap out Joe Ingles (contract, he’s injured) for a healthy upgrade, the Jazz opted against signing House to a full-on NBA contract, at least not yet.

Daryl Morey should make it a priority to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Now granted, are there potentially better players who could become available at some point down the line? Yes, but that, my friends, is the beauty of a 10-day contract; the Sixers could conceivably have House under team control for 10 or even 20 days without having to fully commit one way or another. In the meantime, the Sixers would acquire a well-traveled 3-and-D forward with defensive versatility, position versatility, and experience playing alongside James Harden during his time in Houston.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that House has a 6-foot-8 wingspan? Because that’s true too.

Do you want a 6-foot-6 shooting guard in big lineups who attempts the vast majority of his shots without taking a dribble? House is your guy. How about a decently athletic small ball four who could play alongside Tyrese Maxey with Paul Millsap at the five? House can do that too. And best of all, House can play small forward and is a bit taller than both Matisse Thybulle and Danny Green. If he can keep up his efficiency from beyond the arc, there’s very little downside to bringing House to the hou… table.

The Philadelphia 76ers won the 2022 NBA Trade Deadline. They got their guy, kept three of their four best players, and were able to bring back an interesting enough forward in Paul Milsap, who can actually play alongside Joel Embiid, which is more than one can say about Andre Drummond. But with this new roster spot opened up, the Sixers have an opportunity to further address their roster with complementary talent. If that player is lights-out shooter amazing, but with a need to get bigger on the wings very much still on the table, signing House as a stopgap with full-time potential is a best of both worlds approach that would put a cherry on top of an already fantastic acquisition period.