Report: 76ers to sign Alex Poythress from D-League
The Philadelphia 76ers have signed forward Alex Poythress, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports‘ The Vertical.
The Sixers were granted a hardship exception, allowing them to increase their roster limit to 16, according to the report. A hardship exception is granted when a team has four players who have missed at least three games and are expected to continue to miss time.
The Sixers have Joel Embiid (left knee), Ben Simmons (right foot), Robert Covington (right knee), Jahlil Okafor (right knee), and Jerryd Bayless (left wrist) all out for the remainder of the season. While Covington has only missed two games as a result of his injury and thus does not yet meet the criteria, Okafor has missed the last five for the Sixers, which made them eligible for the exception.
Poythress had a four-year career at Kentucky, averaging 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the Wildcats. He averaged 10.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 0.6 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game, while shooting 60.1% from the field, during his final season at Lexington.
Poythress went undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, eventually signing a partially guaranteed contract with the Indiana Pacers. While Poythress was waived before the start of the season he was designated as an affiliate cut, allowing the Pacers D-League affiliate to retain his rights if he winded up signing a contract with the D-League.
In 46 games for the Pacers D-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Poythress averaged 18.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. He shot 52.7% from the field and 40.3% from three-point range.
Because of the hardship exception, the 76ers were not required to waive a player in order to clear room to sign Poythress.