Shake Milton impressing Sixers after dominant G League stint, but contract prevents him from being a playoff contributor
Against the Orlando Magic on Monday, Milton scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting in 21 minutes. It was his first NBA action since Feb. 2.
Shake Milton’s trips up and down I-95 are over for the season.
He made good use of his time with the Delaware Blue Coats, the Sixers’ G League affiliate, averaging 24.9 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.8 rebounds in 27 games.
The rookie combo guard, along with Zhaire Smith and fellow two-way contract player Haywood Highsmith, is back with the Sixers, now that the Blue Coats season has ended. Against the Orlando Magic on Monday, Milton scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting in 21 minutes. It was his first NBA action since Feb. 2.
“The game comes easy,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said after practice Wednesday. “He doesn’t force-feed stuff on the game, he takes what the game gives him, and plays with an ease. There’s a pace and smoothness and fluidity to his game that enables him look very much under control. The fact that he can shoot adds to that in significant ways."
Milton gives the Sixers a solid shooting presence off the bench, and he has defensive potential with a 6-foot-6 frame and 6-11 wingspan. He shot 37 percent from three-point range in the G League on 5.8 attempts per game, and is at 39 percent in the NBA, albeit on just 28 attempts.
But Milton is a on a two-way contract, which makes him ineligible to play in the playoffs. The Sixers could sign him to a regular NBA deal before the season ends to make him eligible, but they would need to free up a roster spot. There is no expectation to do so, which makes the next eight games more about development.
“I don’t see those guys factoring into postseason play, and it’s no disrespect to them,” Brown said of the recent G League call-ups. “What we have is what we have.”
Milton, 22, was getting some reserve minutes earlier this season, but he broke his hand Feb. 5 in a Blue Coats game, requiring surgery. It was the second time he’s broken his hand in two seasons, the first time ending his senior season at SMU.
Milton, the No. 54 pick in last year’s NBA draft, saw his stock fall when he suffered a stress fracture in his back during the predraft process, but was projected as a first-round pick. Because of the injury, Milton said he wasn’t even able to run leading into the season.
Since rejoining the Sixers, Milton has impressed not only Brown, but also starters Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris.
“I actually was watching him in the warmups [last game], and he was pretty good,” Harris said. “Then, during the game, I saw his talent level, and he’s going to be a heck of a player. He has the size, the length. ... With more opportunity, he’s going to get better and better.”
Butler said he reached out to Milton when he returned to G League action.
“I was checking in on my guy," Butler said. “I just wanted to let him know that, ‘When you come back, you’re going to have your opportunity.’ ”
Milton said Butler has assumed a mentorship role with him during games.
“He was actually the first person to text me,” he said. “He just helps me a lot throughout the game in general, whether it be offensively or defensively. He’s not going to sugarcoat it. If I’m in the wrong, he’ll let me know, and if I’m doing well, he’s going to let me know that, too.”