Three years after being selected by the Sixers, Filip Petrušev has secured an NBA contract.
The Sixers announced Monday morning that they’ve signed the Gonzaga product. Petrušev's deal is for two years and has a 50 percent guarantee in Year 1, a league source told NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The 50th pick in the 2021 NBA draft, Petrušev played on the Sixers’ summer league team this year for the third time. Over five games, he posted 10.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest.
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The Sixers listed him at 6-foot-11, 235 pounds on their summer league roster. According to Petrušev, he “actually lost five or 10 pounds” since last summer and mainly played power forward for KK Crvena zvezda, his team in Serbia.
“We had a new coach back home and it was just a lot of practices, a lot of running,” he said following the Sixers’ summer league practice on July 1. “Our team probably practiced the most in Europe, so it was tough to keep up the weight, but I should be back to it during the summer.”
In 72 total games across all competitions last season, Petrušev averaged 11.0 points on 57.3/43.0/69.5 shooting splits and 4.9 rebounds.
He kept tabs on the Sixers during the NBA playoffs, as well as fellow Serbian big man Nikola Jokić’s Nuggets.
NBA
“Throughout the year, it’s hard because of the time difference, but in the playoffs I was actually able to watch most of the games,” he said. “I watched Philly, and then obviously everybody back home watched Denver.”
The Sixers are not currently short at all on frontcourt players; Paul Reed, Mo Bamba, Montrezl Harrell, and Petrušev are on the roster behind Joel Embiid. P.J. Tucker has substantial small-ball center experience, too.
Adding Petrušev gives the the Sixers 14 player on standard NBA deals, per Spotrac. Undrafted rookies Terquavion Smith, Ricky Council IV and Ąžuolas Tubelis have officially signed two-way contracts.