Tyrese Maxey is thrilled that Trendon Watford has joined the Sixers: ‘We need a guy like him’

LAS VEGAS — Tyrese Maxey checked in with Trendon Watford at the start of free agency, mostly as a friend curious where Watford might sign.

Then, Maxey took a nap. The star guard woke up to “like five missed calls” from Watford and coach Nick Nurse. Watford had decided to join the 76ers, linking him and Maxey as teammates for the first time.

“I’ve been saying it for the last two years,” Maxey said Saturday at halftime of the Sixers’ summer league game against the Charlotte Hornets. “We need a guy like him.”

Maxey believes in Watford’s versatility to rebound and immediately push the ball and make plays from the forward spot, and to guard multiple positions. Watford is coming off averaging a career-best 10.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 44 games with the Brooklyn Nets.

» READ MORE: NBA free agency: Sixers essentially have the same roster from last season’s 24-win team

“It brings an element that we haven’t had,” Maxey said. “ … This is the perfect platform for him to showcase his talent and help a team that’s trying to win.”

Maxey’s friendship with Watford dates back to the high school camp circuit, and as roommates at the 2019 McDonald’s All American Game. Since then, Maxey has blossomed into an All-Star on a max contract. Watford, meanwhile, carved out a role-player career with the Portland Trail Blazers and Nets.

Saturday, they arrived at the Thomas & Mack Center together and sat courtside, both officially Sixers.

“I can’t even believe it,” Maxey said. “It doesn’t seem real yet.”

After Dominick Barlow signed his two-way contract last week, he asked if he could jump into summer league action.

“That’s a good challenge,” Barlow said. “ … Just seeing how quickly I can pick up on stuff.”

In the Sixers’ Thursday night flop against the San Antonio Spurs, Barlow looked like he had just joined the team. Yet by Saturday, the 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward was noticeably active while totaling 19 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Summer league coach T.J. DiLeo praised Barlow’s “unbelievable” leadership, along with his ability to crash the offensive glass and be a switchable defender.

“I still feel a little loose on some things,” Barlow said after Saturday’s game. “But I feel a lot more comfortable with the stuff that we were running. … [The coaches] understand, ‘You just got here. You’re going to make some mistakes along the way.’

“But I’d rather err on the side of aggression. If I’m going to be in the wrong place and whatever the case may be, go make a play.”

Barlow is an example of how the Sixers use their two-way contracts to add younger depth in the frontcourt. To president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, that Barlow and Jabari Walker have multiple seasons of NBA experience was a bit of an on-the-margins free agency coup.

“Being able to go [get] Jabari and Dominick,” Morey told a group of reporters, “and say, ‘Hey, we really think you’ll have a role even though it’s a two-way,’ I think that’s an edge, and we were thrilled they chose to join us.”

Adem Bona hollered, “Ball! Ball! Ball!” before swatting a block Saturday during the first quarter against Charlotte. Later, he screamed, “Judah!” at Sixers guard Judah Mintz when he was about to get screened.

“Deep voice,” Barlow later said of Bona. “Kind of like a 35-year-old man.”

Those are examples of how Bona hoped his presence would be felt “vocally, physically, defensively, offensively” during his second summer league.

“It feels completely different,” Bona told The Inquirer when asked about this summer compared to his first. “ … I know what the team needs from me. I know what I need to give to the team. So it’s just more awareness and more comfort in my role.”

Playing in summer league, however, is the most familiar part of Bona’s first full NBA offseason. After logging unexpected minutes as a rookie during the Sixers’ 24-58 season, the athletic big man is receiving guidance on how to structure his work and rest — even within each day.

» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe ‘itching’ to return to Sixers summer league, but has a confidant in the rehabbing Jared McCain

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Bona said. “Talking to some guys. Really pace myself.”

Helping with that balance: Bona traveled to Morocco with the National Basketball Players Association to learn about how to help grow the game in Africa, his home continent. The soccer super fan also went to London to watch Arsenal play for the first time.

With VJ Edgecombe sidelined with a sprained thumb, the Summer Sixers have struggled to initiate offense. Mintz has been their best bet at lead guard, thanks to his relentless attacking and uncanny ability to draw fouls. He totaled 24 points — including a 13-of-15 mark from the free-throw line — five rebounds, and four assists against the Hornets.

“Coaches trust me. My teammates trust me,” Mintz said after the game. “So it’s only right for me to trust myself, too.”

Mintz is a classic tweener who, after going undrafted and playing for the Delaware Blue Coats last season, could put himself in position to earn a two-way deal out of summer league. He said Saturday that suitable point-of-attack defense — especially with his wiry 6-foot-4, 185-pound frame — is the main aspect of his game that he wants to demonstrate during summer league.

When guard Andrew Funk’s agent notified him that the Sixers were interested in adding him to the summer league roster, it “[stirred] something up in [me] a little bit.”

Funk grew up in Bucks County watching the Andre Iguodala-era Sixers, then played high school basketball at Archbishop Wood. After spending his college career at Bucknell and Penn State, Funk went undrafted but has dipped his toe in the NBA. He appeared in five games for the Chicago Bulls during the 2023-24 season, and has played in the G League.

Now, Funk hopes to showcase his outside shooting and basketball IQ during summer league. DiLeo turned to Funk when the Sixers needed a first-half spark Saturday, then reinserted him as a shooting threat for the waning moments of a two-point loss. Funk finished that game with three points and two assists.

“Once you get to that level and you put on an NBA uniform, the first couple times, it’s nerve-wracking,” Funk said. “You’ve had a little bit of impostor syndrome, whether I’m supposed to be here or not. And I think having those experiences helps me, at this level, get over it.

“Be like, ‘All right, I did this. I belong here.’”