With the 2024-25 Sixers season officially in the rearview mirror, the time has come to evaluate the few highs and many lows of a disastrous campaign in which the team only managed 24 wins. We will do so in "Sixers year-in-review," a series assessing each individual Sixers player's performance this year based on numbers, film and quotes, while also looking ahead to the future.
Up next: Andre Drummond.
Drummond returned to Philadelphia on a two-year, $10 million contract with a player option in the second season and was supposed to help lock down the team's infamously troubling backup center spot. But much of his season was derailed by a left toe injury, and even when he was healthy Drummond failed to impact winning for the Sixers the way he did in his brief stint with the team years ago.
Will Drummond be back, and is there hope for him to return to being one of the NBA's elite backup centers?
SIXERS YEAR-IN-REVIEW
Joel Embiid | Guerschon Yabusele | Jared McCain | Tyrese Maxey
What we learned in 2024-25
Drummond's offensive skillset is not good enough to be relied on for regular rotation minutes.
For just the second time in Drummond’s long NBA career, the veteran center did not make more shots than he missed over a full season in 2024-25. Drummond made exactly half of his shot attempts in his first full season with the Sixers, and while a 50.0 field goal percentage may be good for some — or great, even — it is subpar for a non-shooter like Drummond whose scoring opportunities come solely as a play finisher.
Funnily enough, Drummond would have cleared the 50 percent mark had he not repeatedly insisted on test-driving his three-point shot. Drummond, who entered the season with five total made threes in a dozen years in the NBA, average one long-range attempt for every two games this season, shooting 3-for-20 from beyond the arc in 40 games.
Drummond has never been an offensive force, nor has he needed to be — his strength has been dominating the glass and being passable as a defender and rim protector, at least enough to get by. But it is imperative that each player clears certain threshold of ability on both ends of the floor to be viable as a consistent rotation player, and it is unclear at this point if Drummond has enough value offensively to make it worth playing him — particularly after a season filled with defensive struggles that will be addressed shortly.
Number to know
Andre Drummond's Net Rating in 2024-25: -15.5.
This is not only the worst figure of Drummond’s career and one of the worst marks in the NBA this season, but nearly triple his previous career-worst point differential per 100 possessions.
It is the accumulation of every negative factor imaginable: Drummond’s aforementioned lack of offensive utility, his continued decline on the defensive end of the floor and — perhaps just as much as those individual flaws — the fact that the Sixers were more often than not fielding a poor team.
Drummond was quickly usurped in the Sixers’ center depth chart by a power forward in Guerschon Yabusele, and by the end of the season it was clear that rookie center Adem Bona has a far better chance of being a contributor than Drummond does moving forward. (To be fair, Drummond has excitedly campaigned for Yabusele and mentored Bona, part of why he remained a valued presence in the locker room this season.)
MORE: Daryl Morey takes blame for disastrous season, talks offseason
Important film
Even if Drummond’s offense could get back to its previous standards — wholly unspectacular but typically acceptable — there are much bigger issues at hand. The main problem: he is who he is as a defender, where he has never been a quality rim protector or shot-blocker and does not have the requisite foot speed to switch on the perimeter. Drummond was completely taken advantage of by the Boston Celtics in a contest soon after the All-Star break which highlighted his deficiencies on that end of the floor in limited minutes:
If there is any opportunity to survive Andre Drummond minutes against the Boston Celtics' offense, it is when they use the non-spacer Luke Kornet. Drummond and Kornet were matched up at times on Thursday, and the Sixers got absolutely shredded defensively: pic.twitter.com/LrSazLXYeB
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) February 21, 2025
If Drummond cannot defend against spaced-out offenses with stretch bigs and cannot switch onto guards and wings — in addition to his offensive shortcomings — what is the path to him being a viable rotation center on a nightly basis?
MORE: Which Sixers midseason additions will return?
Salient soundbite
Drummond in his exit interview on Sunday about his upcoming player option decision:
"This is something I've said from the first day I got back here: I feel like there's more work to — there's stuff that's missing that I haven't completed here yet, which is winning at the highest level, and I still feel that way now. I think we still have the pieces to win at the highest level and I think I can be a big part of that, too. So my plan is to come back. Obviously whatever happens in the offseason happens, but my immediate plan is to be back here."
Question heading into the future
If Drummond picks up his player option, will he be salary-dumped?
Every dollar will be precious for the Sixers as they try to re-sign Yabusele, Quentin Grimes and perhaps veteran swingman Kelly Oubre Jr., particularly if the Sixers end up keeping their top-six protected first-round pick. This situation makes it feel likely that the Sixers will at least be kicking the tires on redirecting Drummond’s $5 million expiring salary if he picks up his player option (it is difficult to imagine him not doing so).
Then the question becomes: what is the cost? The Denver Nuggets had to part with three second-round picks to move former Sixer and Drummond’s close friend Reggie Jackson last summer on a similar deal, but they had greater apron and luxury tax concerns that made it even more crucial, inherently shrinking their leverage.
Drummond also has a more realistic chance of being helpful to an NBA team next season than Jackson did last season, even on a smaller scale. There are teams that could want to add some size and experience inside without giving up anything of value and end up viewing Drummond as a stopgap.
If Drummond does end up being moved in a financially-motivated deal, the guess here is that it costs the Sixers one or two future second-round picks (of which they have a surplus as things stand now). Their second-rounder this June — the No. 35 overall pick in 2025 — should not be on the table in these talks unless the Sixers are getting something back.
Contract information
Andre Drummond must decide on his player option for 2025-26 worth $5,000,000 by June 29. If he declines the option, Drummond would become an unrestricted free agent; if he picks up the option he would be eligible to be traded at any point.
MORE: Predicting Sixers' team/player option choices
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