OK, it’s not like they have to after having one of the splashiest offseasons of all time.
In recent history, the Sixers haven’t been the most prolific at finding cheap, productive talent on the two-way market, but that wasn’t the case in 2025. Last offseason they brought in Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, both of whom were converted to standard contracts and played over 60 games for Philadelphia last season. Barlow was a contributor in their playoff run as well, making nine postseason appearances.
Heading into this season, the Sixers are using their two-way contracts on two more Portland Trail Blazer castoffs: Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert. They are reportedly leaving their final spot open heading into training camp, according to Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com.
Love was a four-year college guard who signed a two-way with Portland after going undrafted in 2025. He played in 49 games as a rookie with one start. He got 20 minutes a game in that time and averaged 10.4 points shooting 38% from the field and 31% from three along with 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Rupert is a 6-foot-7 wing who was a mid second-round pick back in 2023. He played just 139 games in his three seasons as a Blazer, averaging 12 minutes a game putting up 3.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists. After being waived in February by Portland, Rupert was picked up by a Memphis Grizzlies team playing for lottery balls and got the most opportunity of his NBA career.
Playing 30 minutes a game for the Grizzlies he averaged 12.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game shooting 42% from the field and 33% from three. Those were also improvements on his 38 FG% and 32 3PM%.
That uptick in steals feels like the most worth monitoring if Rupert is going to make an impact as a Sixer. The most encouraging sign is probably that he was forcing steals at the same rate in his 48 games for the Trail Blazers before being cut. The per game production was lower because he was playing a third of the minutes, but he posted a steal rate over 2% for the entire 2025-26 season, putting him in the 80th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
An important factor in how much impact either two-way will have with the Sixers (assuming they make it through training camp) will be that they will hopefully have much less rotation minutes up for grabs than a season ago.
Barlow proved his value in the starting lineup early last season, but that opportunity to start came in large part due to preseason injuries to Paul George and Trendon Watford. Walker also saw more minutes for this reason, as well as the center rotation, which is always in need of bodies.
The forward rotation obviously revolves around LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. While James will certainly miss his fair share of regular season games, Brown should be quite an innings eater for a player of his caliber. The Sixers roster felt like it was in more of a transitional phase at this point last season as well, more willing to take chances on giving two-ways regular season minutes. Rupert would have to have one hell of a training camp and preseason to crack a bench rotation featuring Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but if he becomes a guy that forces a lot of steals, that’s something his coach is a big fan of.
Love’s journey to minutes feels even harder. The Sixers brought in Anfernee Simons to come off their bench and used their 2026 first-round draft pick on Labaron Philon Jr. A score-first guard, Love had some impressive games as a rookie. His career high is 26 points against the Warriors back on Nov. 23.
As someone who will turn 25 years old just before the start of training camp, he’s about as old as it gets for someone with his experience. He doesn’t exactly fit a need on this team, but he is still a seasoned bucket getter who’s had a moment or two at the NBA level.
As it stands, it’s unlikely the Sixers will get as much two-way contribution as they did a season ago, but two-way contributions aren’t always the thing you see coming. Who, if anyone, emerges with the third spot will be an intriguing training camp storyline. Now that this team aspires for true playoff success again, they hope to be less reliant on two-way players in the rotation.
