The 76ers and Andre Drummond have agreed in principle on a four-year, $130 million contract. Embiid will be happy to see his former teammate gone from the team.
The how old is joel embiid question has been asked a lot in the past. Andre Drummond sees Philadelphia as a great fit for him despite previous drama with Joel Embiid.
1:50 p.m. Eastern
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ESPN’s Tim Bontemps
Andre Drummond, the 27-year-old two-time All-Star who joined the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency to become a backup to longtime rival Joel Embiid, acknowledged that “things change,” but he’d embraced the chance presented to him.
“Things happen in life, and it’s nothing that’s hurting me or making me feel any different,” Drummond said in a video conference call after his formal signing on Thursday. “That’s the position I’ve been assigned. It’s something I’ve agreed to and am prepared to undertake.
“It needs to be done if the team’s best interests are to win.”
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When he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers last season, Drummond, who has led the NBA in rebounding four times and been named to two All-Star teams and an All-NBA team in his career, was perhaps the biggest name on the buyout market. However, playing alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis proved difficult, and Drummond was ultimately benched as a healthy scratch for the Lakers’ last game of the season, Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round series against the Phoenix Suns.
When asked why he didn’t re-sign with the Lakers when they indicated earlier in the season that they wanted to keep him beyond this season, Drummond replied the Lakers’ actions eliminated that option.
“You know, things change, and they made various trades and adjustments to their squad to the point where it didn’t make sense for me to go back there,” Drummond said. “So I chose the next best option after that, which was to come to Philly.” “I believe it is a perfect match for me.”
Drummond’s resume, which includes starting all but one game since his rookie season with the Detroit Pistons, plus his long-running feud with Embiid, who has relentlessly ridiculed him, made it a surprise match. Embiid has a number of rivalries with other big guys in the NBA.
Drummond, on the other hand, claimed he didn’t take any of it personally and that it wasn’t anything he had to consider when choosing to join Philadelphia this summer.
“I don’t believe there was ever any genuine beef for me,” Drummond said. “At the end of the day, it’s a basketball game.” It’s a tense match. Both of us are competitive. We play in such a manner that we sometimes speak. It doesn’t go any farther, in my opinion.
“I don’t believe there’s any genuine animosity or hatred between us; it’s all part of the game now that we’re on the same team. It’s not anything I’m thinking about or that’s troubling me.”
Drummond also said that the presence of Doc Rivers, whom he has known since high school, impacted his choice to play for the Sixers.
“I believe my choice to come to Philly was based on Doc’s belief in my ability to help this team accomplish something great. It doesn’t matter what my role is, me coming off the bench in the peak of my career. Coming off the bench and backing up Joel, I can still be useful.
“It was, in my opinion, a no-brainer. Doc has always been a favorite of mine. I jumped at the chance to play for him when the opportunity arose.”
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