Paul Reed named G League Player of the Week for first week of play

Paul Reed, selected 58th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2020 NBA Draft, hasn’t had many opportunities at the NBA level just yet, but that hasn’t stopped him from turning heads with the G League squad. The Delaware Blue Coats, the Sixers G League affiliate, started play last week and through 3 games, Reed has been spectacularly productive.

So productive, in fact, that Reed has been named the G League Player of the Week for the first week of the 2021 season. From the Sixers’ press release:

WILMINGTON – FEB. 16, 2021 – The NBA G League announced today that Philadelphia 76ers two-way contract player Paul Reed was named NBA G League Player of the Week for games played during the first week of the 2021 NBA G League season, which began Feb. 10.

In three wins with the Delaware Blue Coats, Reed averaged 24.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in 33.0 minutes per game. He posted no fewer than 20 points and 10 rebounds in any game. Reed is shooting .620 from the field on nearly 17 attempts per contest.

In the Blue Coats’ 108-101 win over the Agua Caliente Clippers on Sunday, Reed posted a career-high 31 points with 11 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double. The DePaul product and No. 58 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft opened the season with two double-double efforts in as many days on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12. On Friday against the Santa Cruz Warriors, Reed poured in a game-high 23 points with 12 rebounds, three assists and a game-high four steals. The Orlando native’s NBA G League debut was a 20-point, 10-rebound performance on Thursday against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

G League stats need to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s an experimental league in which defense is not exactly a point of emphasis. But for a player such as Paul Reed, it’s pretty much all we have to go off of. And through a limited sample, Reed has been on fire, averaging a double-double with 11.0 rebounds and just under 25 points per game (24.7 points/gm). Going off of the numbers, he’s been active defensively as well with 3.0 stocks per game (2.0 steals, 1.0 block/gm). Reed has been doing all of this while playing a new position as a small ball center after spending most of his minutes at forward during his NCAA career at DePaul. (Check out Reed’s stats here.)

Will this lead to playing time with the NBA squad for Reed? It doesn’t seem likely just yet. The Sixers could use a stretch big to complement Ben Simmons when Joel Embiid is off the floor, but with reports of interest in Nemanja Bjelica, it sounds like the Sixers are searching the trade and buyout market for that role. But if Reed keeps it up, the Sixers may have to give the rookie a shot sooner rather than later.