The Philadelphia 76ers have landed a capable scorer on the wing with superstar James Harden's future with the franchise still in limbo. The Sixers have agreed to a one-year contract with forward Kelly Oubre Jr, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Oubre, 27, averaged a career-best 20.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 31.6 percent from beyond the arc in 48 games played for the Charlotte Hornets this past season.
Unfortunately, a torn ligament in Oubre's hand cost him a chunk of time, putting a sour note on what was amounting to be perhaps the best season of his career.
Oubre had expressed a desire to remain with the Hornets back in February, mentioning that he rooted for the New Orleans Hornets when he was growing up as a kid.
Unfortunately, things didn't play out that way for Oubre, though there's no reason to be upset with landing on a Sixers team that has advanced to the playoffs in each of the last six seasons.
The Sixers lost a fair amount of depth and shooting on the wing this offseason, as the likes of Georges Niang, Jalen McDaniels and Shake Milton all opted for free agency.
Kelly Oubre Jr is a streaky shooter, but he was a dependable marksman from beyond the arc when healthy over his last 13 games–albeit a small sample size–of the season in February and March, as he shot above 35 percent from downtown during that span.
It remains to be seen what happens between James Harden and the Sixers, who had designs on trading him after the relationship seemingly soured between the former and Sixers GM Daryl Morey.
Even if Harden is in the picture, Oubre has the potential to develop into a nice rotational player off the bench for the Sixers.