Eric Gordon will play his 17 season in the NBA in Philadelphia, and has the potential to be key in spacing the floor for his trio of All-Star teammates, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George.
Just a few hours into free agency back on June 30, the Philadelphia 76ers were reported to be signing veteran guard Eric Gordon to a minimum contract for the upcoming season.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has developed a noticeable pattern in bringing players to Philadelphia that were at some point under his wing while he was with the Houston Rockets. Gordon is no exception. He is entering his 17th year in the NBA, including six and a half seasons in Houston across 2016-2022.
Gordon spent last season with the Phoenix Suns, putting up 11 points on 44.3% field goal shooting with two assists and one steal per game averaging 27.8 minutes on the floor in 68 appearances. The key with Gordon isn’t the number of points, however, but where he scores them from. The most promising aspect of bringing Gordon into this Sixers lineup is that he is a proven perimeter threat. Last season, Gordon sank 37.8% of his 5.8 attempted triples per game and averages 37.1% on 6.3 attempts per game across his long tenure in the association.
Putting him on the floor means the Sixers have someone on the perimeter that opposing defenses actually have to account for. The Sixers have had a number of players in recent history that were completely ignorable behind the arc, making it that much easier for opponents to stack defenders on Joel Embiid. Putting Gordon on the floor with the likes of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey or Paul George will give Nick Nurse’s squad some real floor spacing to work with.
Basically, the more defenders have to actively close out on someone at the arc, the more opportunities arise for the Sixers’ offense. With a threat like Gordon out there, the chances should arise frequently to have him take shots from three-point range, to get by defenders into the arc and/or to get the ball to one of his All-Star teammates to finish.
One of the bigger question marks for Gordon will be how he is able to hold up defensively with his athleticism declining due to his age (35 turning 36 in December) and injuries over time. He will never be the guy that Nurse will look to give the hardest defensive assignments to, that much is for sure. But whether or not Gordon is able to at least be a net-neutral player for the Sixers’ defense and not an active hinderance on that end of the floor is definitely something to watch out for.
This is a depth addition for the Sixers. It’s extremely unlikely that he’ll feature as heavily as he did with the Suns last season. I’d even be willing to say that if Gordon was even close to averaging 28 minutes per game this year for the Sixers, it would be because a number of things had already gone horribly wrong for Philadelphia.
However, this is another signing that the Sixers made this offseason that can be seen as a low-risk, potentially high-reward situation. Gordon is on a vet-minimum deal, but could be a consistent member of the rotation for the Sixers throughout the season if he has enough energy left in the tank and can stay healthy.
At 35 and soon-to-be 36 years old, that might be asking a lot. But for just over $3 million for the season, the prospect of the Sixers having not only a league veteran but, more importantly even, a player on the perimeter defenses actually have to guard could pay off immensely.