Willie Cauley-Stein waived by Philadelphia 76ers

After getting his next NBA opportunity, Willie Cauley-Stein is on the wrong end of an NBA roster decision for the second time this season. In favor of signing DeAndre Jordan, the Philadelphia 76ers have decided to waive Cauley-Stein, the team announced on Thursday. With this decision, WCS will once again be a free agent.

DeAndre Jordan has cleared waivers and will sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The 76ers will terminate Willie Cauley-Stein’s 10-day contract and he will be free to sign elsewhere.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 3, 2022

The Los Angeles Lakers decided to waive Jordan, a former Texas A&M Aggie, earlier this week. Jordan was immediately linked to the 76ers with their need at the position and his connection to former head coach Doc Rivers. Once he cleared waivers, the 76ers made their move and signed him. They had enough spots to keep both, but they elected to waive Cauley-Stein in favor of more roster space.

After their trade for James Harden (which sent backup big man Andre Drummond to Brooklyn), Philadelphia was in serious need of depth at the center spot. In order to replace Drummond, the 76ers signed Cauley-Stein to a 10-day contract on February 24th. This was a quality opportunity for Cauley-Stein after being waived by the Mavericks earlier this season. Instead, he didn’t even make it the full 10 days as this decision has come just a week later.

Cauley-Stein suited up for the 76ers for three games in that time. He didn’t play in one but appeared in garbage time in the closing minutes of two Philadelphia wins. In total, he played 5:40 of game action. WCS didn’t score in those minutes but did grab two rebounds and had an assist.

Jordan becoming available was just poor luck for Cauley-Stein. There’s no telling whether Philly would have signed him to another contract, but signing Jordan was an easy decision for the 76ers. Unfortunately, it came at Cauley-Stein’s expense. With that said, he’s still relatively young and another NBA team could look to his size and athleticism again in the future. It’ll just be a matter of when for WCS.

NBA players are very good, Vol. 1,345,765: Willie Cauley-Stein is just 6 for 32 from deep for his NBA career. But he can stroke 3s in practice. pic.twitter.com/1H6DZ9QKIn

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) March 1, 2022