Paul Reed has brutally honest take on his restricted free agency
Oct 24, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul Reed (44) warms up before the game against the Indiana Pacers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia 76ers reserve center Paul Reed is sticking with the team after a brief adventure in restricted free agency this summer. That process got a pretty blunt reaction out of him.
Reed signed a three-year, $23 million offer sheet with the Utah Jazz in restricted free agency, a contract the Sixers ultimately matched. That was precisely what Reed apparently wanted. In an interview with 97.5 The Fanatic’s “The John Kincade Show,” Reed said he needed to use the process to get a better contract, but was hoping all along that Philadelphia would match Utah’s offer.
“I’m glad they was able to match the offer,” Reed said, via RealGM. “That’s not a place that I had in mind, but business is business.”
Kudos to Reed for his honesty. The Jazz are in a rebuilding process, while the 76ers are contending now, so it makes sense that Reed did not want to leave. As he noted, business is business.
Reed played in 69 games, primarily off the bench, for the 76ers last season. The Jazz wanted him enough to drop a poison pill into their offer sheet, but that did not matter to Philadelphia.
