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After turning in one of the more exciting offseasons in the NBA last year, the Philadelphia 76ers have kept things quiet so far this summer.
No max contract signings. No major trade. Heck, the 76ers didn't even use their mid-level exception, even though fans would have really liked to see it used on Guerschon Yabusele had it not interfered with the restricted free agency of Quentin Grimes.
And yet, just because moves were either expected or on the margins doesn't mean they are necessarily bad. In actuality, Daryl Morey and company have earned more praise for their efforts this offseason than he has in recent years without adding a multi-time All-Star or swinging some huge deal.
With the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft in their back pockets, the 76ers selected VJ Edgecombe out of Baylor, who was widely reported as the favorite for the better part of a month before the big event. They didn't panic and take Ace Bailey despite his seeming disdain for being a role player next to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George. They didn't trade down and hope that Edgecombe would still be on the board. Nope, Morey picked his guy, handed in the proverbial card, and brought the most exciting young guard – pre-draft, at least – Philadelphia has drafted since Markelle Fultz in 2017.
From there, the 76ers loaded up on frontcourt help like Howie Roseman has with edge rushers, prioritizing quantity with upside over known quantities to avoid having to commit major cap space to a known quantity who wasn't within their budget.
Johni Broome in the second round? Though controversial at first, the Auburn product has been absolutely lights out from 3 over the course of the Summer League so far, showing he can potentially play the four next to Embiid as a floor spacer with plus passing for the position.
The 76ers then doubled down on the position with the addition of Trendon Watford, another quality passer from the power forward position who isn't the best rebounder or rim protector, but makes some truly impressive playmaking for a player his size. Watford can be a weapon in the half and full court with or without the ball, and is a good friend with Maxey dating back to their high school days, with the duo spending time courtside at Summer League as they prepare for a season in the trenches.
But the best move the 76ers made this summer was also the most surprising, as fans genuinely didn't believe that Morey was able to get such good value on the margins. While rostering Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, and Andre Drummond may be a bummer for now, landing Jabari Walker on a two-way contract is simply good to ignore.
Jabari Walker has rotational potential for the 76ers
At this point, 76ers fans really aren't that picky when it comes to power forward play. Sure, landing an elite playmaker at the position would be nice, as the front office has clearly been looking for the next coming of Nico Batum with their offseason additions so far this summer, but fans don't necessarily demand a star, a marksman, or even a skywalker specialist who can compete in the Slam Dunk contest in the future.
No, at the end of the day, fans just want to see a player who sets good screens, doesn't hold the ball for too long, and is willing to rebound the ball on both ends of the court, where the team has been downright deficient over the past few years.
Jabari Walker fits that description better than most forwards the 76ers have employed during the Embiid era.
Originally drafted with the penultimate pick in the 2022 NBA Draft out of Colorado, Walker spent the first three years of his NBA career in Portland, where he came in and out of Chauncey Billups' rotation.
Standing 6-foot-9, 215 pounds, Walker really came into his own as a second-year player, where he was afforded a chance to start 23 of the 72 games he appeared in while playing an average of 23.6 minutes of action a night. Though far from the team's top offensive weapon, only putting up 7.1 shots per game, he still impacted the game in multiple ways across the board, averaging 8.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Is Walker a perfect player? No, 2024-25 was the first year he shot above the NBA league average from the 3-point line – albeit on just 1.9 attempts per game – and he has never earned a positive Box Plus-Minus at any point in his career playing for an admittedly bad team. But in 2024-25, relegated to deep bench duty once more, he did finish out the year with a positive DBPM of 0.5, which ranked seventh on the team and just 0.2 behind All-Defensive Second Team member Toumani Camara.
Heading into Year 4 of his NBA career at just 22 years old, Walker has proven his star is on the rise, with his Per-36 numbers last season the best of his career pretty much across the board. While he may not be the perfect 3-and-D forward who can play with every member of the 76ers' roster interchangeably, he can help to take the pressure off of Embiid in the painted area as a rebounder, run with guards in the fast break, and continue to grow into his game with a ready-made NBA body. For the low-low price of a two-way contract, few teams have a better-value player on their roster than Jabari Walker.
