Philadelphia 76ers: 3 players that must step up in James Harden’s absence

De’Anthony Melton

When the Sixers acquired De’Anthony Melton during the offseason, it was immediately met with praise. After all, the Sixers needed to add some toughness and depth to their roster and that’s exactly what Melton has provided them so far this season.

So far this season, Melton has been a valuable role player for the Sixers. He’s averaging 10 points and three rebounds on 52 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from 3-point range. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to raise his production during the time that Harden will be sidelined, but he likely will be asked to stretch his minutes.

Melton is the natural first guess of who will start in Harden’s place. And his defense may actually be a welcomed sight for a team that has struggled on that end of the floor – the Sixers are ranked 23rd in defensive rating so far this season.

It would be unfair to expect Melton to single-handedly pick up the slack for the loss of Harden. But it would also be foolish to not expect Melton, a free-agent upgrade, not to see an uptick in minutes over the next few weeks too.