The Portland Trail Blazers offered forward Dante Cunningham and a future draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for forward Marreese Speights, according to Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer, but “the Sixers do not appear to be interested in such a move.”
Cunningham, a Villanova product now in his second season, owns career averages of 4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Portland made him the 33rd overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Speights, who is four months younger than Cunningham, has an additional year of NBA experience. However, he has averaged a career-low 11.4 minutes this season as first-year Sixers coach Doug Collins has preferred to use Thaddeus Young at backup power forward in small lineups, or the veteran Tony Battie against bigger opponents.
Speights’ career averages stand at 7.4 points and 3.8 rebounds, but those numbers have fallen to 5.4 and 3.4, respectively, this season. He’s certainly a better player than Cunningham with far more upside, but his lack of playing time this season has reduced his value.
Derek Bodner of Liberty Ballers, SB Nation’s Sixers blog, says, “I’m happy the Sixers aren’t interested in the swap, as I think Speights has more value than Cunningham.”
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