The Sixers sure did corner the market on mid-first-rounders from the 2022 draft. While the team’s biggest addition of the 2026 trade deadline may have been converting Dominick Barlow from a two-way to a standard NBA contract, it at least gave them more flyers to take for the rest of the season.
After Barlow was converted, the team signed Dalen Terry, who had been traded and waived after spending the first three and a half seasons of his NBA career with the Bulls. Terry was sent from Chicago to the New
York as a part of deal that helped the Knicks salary dump Guerschon Yabusele. New York rerouted Terry along with some second-round picks to New Orleans in exchanger for Jose Alvarado. Terry was able to sign with the Sixers after being waived by the Pelicans.
Terry arrived in Philadelphia as a player with intriguing tools, but still trying to put them together to become a regular rotation member. The 13.5 minutes per game he averaged were the most in a season with Chicago. He’s a great athlete who has shown ability to defend at an NBA level, but has yet to develop any consistency on the other end to be dependable.
After signing a two-way with Philly, Terry played in 14 games. Like MarJon Beauchamp, most of those appearances came in a stretch during March where Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, Paul George, and even Kelly Oubre Jr. were all on the bench.
He averaged 4.1 points as well 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists playing 12 minutes a game as a Sixer. As someone who’s always been a low-volume shooter, he made 25% of his threes in Philadelphia after shooting 41% in his time last season with the Bulls.
His high-point was helping a shorthanded group escape with a win over a tanking Memphis Grizzlies team in March. Terry provided crucial point-of-attack defense on Ty Jerome. He was also able to show off how his athleticism helps him in transition as he was a +23 in a 10-point win.
That blend made Terry the most intriguing of the three two-ways the Sixers rostered for the latter half of the season. His defense was the most ready-made skill of the bunch, and was also the most physically equipped to keep developing. Every now and then he would have a flash like this to affirm that belief.
As his three-point percentage in Philly would indicate, those flashes were few and far between. He saw even less playing time than Beauchamp as the top of the roster shuffled back in the lineup. He would only appear again for four minutes in the regular season finale.
Potentially entering his fifth year in the league, Terry will run into the same two-way eligibility problems Beauchamp will as well. He’s an even more intriguing flyer to have on a two-way spot, but he’s yet to show he’s worth one of the full 15 roster spots for a team that is at least trying to be serious enough to make the playoffs.
Should the Sixers be able to fill out the rest of their bench with better shooting than last season, he could be an interesting gadget player to bring on for the league minimum. That’s still a big “if” though, and the Sixers certainly have bigger battles to tackle this offseason.
