Is Patrick Beverley the Sixers’ best offseason signing?

Ready or not, another season of 76ers basketball is right around the corner. With that being said, it is once again time for preseason player profiles at Liberty Ballers.

We already looked at the two-way guys and players the team has signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, Filip Petrusev, Furkan Korkmaz, Jaden Springer, Danny Green and Mo Bamba looking forward to how they could impact the team in the 2023-24 season.

Patrick Beverley

Age: 35

Contract: One-year, $3.1 million deal (veteran’s minimum) for 2023-24

While the Sixers’ starting backcourt situation is in limbo, the Sixers signed 11-year veteran Patrick Beverley to bolster their depth at the guard position after they lost Shake Milton to the Minnesota Timberwolves in free agency.

Not only does Beverley meet last offseason’s quota for Having That Dawg in Him, he is also now the third different player on this team with a podcast. If nothing else, there will be plenty of juicy stories coming out of the locker room for this season.

The Sixers will need a lot out of Beverley on the court, as they have plenty of minutes to fill on the perimeter specifically after the departures of Milton, Georges Niang and Jalen McDaniels.

Beverley averaged 6.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game for the Lakers and Bulls in the 2022-23 season, but his impact is not in stuffing the stat sheet. He is out there to be a connector on offense and a nuisance on defense.

Season outlook: Another plus defender is a nice addition for the Sixers. Due to the shortcomings of James Harden and Tyrese Maxey defensively, it felt like it put too much on the shoulders of De’Anthony Melton. Even adding just one more player to the backcourt who can consistently stay in front of his man should make a difference.

The two drawbacks to this signing are that Beverly makes an already small backcourt even smaller and an old roster even older. Melton, Beverley and Maxey are all 6-foot-2 or smaller. Beverley also is now the third player on the team who is at least 35 years old now that Danny Green has re-signed.

These certainly aren’t dealbreakers — Beverley was still effective last season, adding a breath of fresh air to the Chicago Bulls play-in run. But these problems can add up when constructing a roster. Even so, Beverley projects to be the best fit of all the new players Philly acquired this offseason.