Philadelphia 76ers guard Kyle Lowry playing meaningful minutes is adding more fuel to the frustration around trading away Jared McCain.
The initial reaction to the Philadelphia 76ers trading sophomore guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder was frustration from fans.
This is a completely understandable response to the move, as McCain is just one season removed from being the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year before injury cut his first year short. He averaged 15.3 points on 46% shooting as a rookie in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers Monday has sparked even more frustration surrounding the McCain trade because of 76ers guard Kyle Lowry. Because Quentin Grimes was sidelined with an illness, Lowry played 18 minutes in the matchup, which infuriated the fanbase, including Philadelphia sports analyst Spike Eskin.
"I'm looking at the box score, and I saw 18 minutes from Kyle Lowry, who, no offense, Hall of Fame career, Philadelphian, was a great player, [but] is 30 pounds overweight. Should not be playing 18 minutes in an NBA game," Eskin said on 94WIP Sports Radio. "I thought to myself, man, I thought our guard rotation was so deep that we couldn't even find minutes for our first-round pick last year, who we had to trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and how could our guard rotation be so deep that we have 18 minutes for Kyle Lowry?"
In Lowry's 18 minutes of play, he tallied six points, a rebound, an assist, a steal, and a block on 1 of 2 shooting and 75% shooting from the free-throw line.
Eskin continued, "We traded Jared McCain, but we traded him to the best team in the league that won the NBA title last year, who has tons of great players. I thought to myself, he must not be playing at all, and I saw that they beat the [Los Angeles] Lakers last night, and Jared McCain played 16 minutes."
In the game Eskin is referencing, a 119-110 Thunder win over the Lakers, McCain finished with seven points and three rebounds on 3 of 6 shooting in 14 minutes of action.
"The truth is they [76ers] only have three guards beyond Kyle Lowry. They have three NBA playable guards: they have Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes. That's it. You need more than three guards, don't you, to get through an NBA season? I am never going to forgive Daryl Morey for trading away Jared McCain for nothing," Eskin concluded.
While Eskin is clearly exaggerating about the return for McCain, it's a valid point.
With Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey playing at All-NBA levels, most people believed the 76ers should have acted as buyers at the trade deadline. Instead, they moved on from McCain, who was seemingly beginning to work out of his sophomore slump.
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