(AP)

Friday, the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers visit Wells Fargo Center. Andrew Bynum, however, won’t be among those taking the floor.

Bynum will not play against the Sixers, Indiana coach Frank Vogel told reporters Thursday at the Pacers’ practice in Indianapolis. The 7-footer will be available for the Pacers Saturday at Detroit, Vogel said.

The center, who missed all of last season for the Sixers, was expected to play in Philly given that he’s had two days of recovery. He made his debut for Indiana Tuesday with eight points and 10 rebounds in 16 minutes of the Pacers’ win over Boston. It was his first game action since Dec. 26, when Bynum was with Cleveland.

Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen, who were traded from the Sixers to Indiana in a deadline deal, will be available for the game.

Turner is averaging 9.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in nearly 23 minutes per game. Allen has played in only three of nine games since the trade, and is averaging 4.3 minutes per appearance.

(AP)

For now, Danny Granger remains with the 76ers.

A Sixers spokesman said the team is not any closer to reaching a buyout agreement on the contract of the ninth-year forward, who according to reports was less than thrilled to be traded from Eastern Conference-contending Indiana.

Saturday is the deadline by which Granger must be on a team’s roster for the 30-year-old to be eligible for that club’s playoff roster.

Granger’s desire to sever ties with the Sixers does not bother coach Brett Brown.

“It doesn’t,” Brown said. “Maybe it should, but it doesn’t.”

Brown said he and Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie have spoken with Granger, and that the team is trying to respect his Granger’s wishes. 

“He’s a good guy, a good person and a heck of a player,” Brown said. “Everybody has different ideas on what’s best for them and their family at this stage of his career. I don’t begrudge him for any of that. It’s always our job to run a business and treat people well. 

“We will do that, and I think the timeline with Danny is still open-ended. No decision has been made in any regard yet. I suspect one will happen in the not-too-distant future.”

Granger was sent to the Sixers by the Pacers at the trade deadline, in exchange for forwards Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen.

(AP)

The trade deadline had passed when the 76ers made their biggest move of the day.

The Sixers acquired small forward Danny Granger from Indiana in exchange for Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen, according to Yahoo! Sports. It was one of four trades consummated by the Sixers on what turned out to be a hectic but productive trade deadline for first-year general manager Sam Hinkie.

Here’s a quick rundown of the rest of the Sixers’ moves Thursday, though some details have yet to be ironed out:

What the 76ers got:

• SF Danny Granger (from IND)
• C Henry Sims and F Earl Clark (from CLV)
• G Eric Maynor (from WSH)
• C Byron Mullens (from LAC)
• Two 2014 second-round picks (from CLV)
• One 2015 second-round pick (from WSH)
• One 2016 second-round pick (from DEN)

What the 76ers gave up:

• C Spencer Hawes (to CLV)
• SF Evan Turner (to IND)
• F/C Lavoy Allen (to IND)
• A reported second-round pick, in an undetermined draft (to LAC)

These trades square up the Sixers’ roster at the 15-man maximum.

The biggest acquisition for the Sixers is Granger, the ninth-year forward who has battled injuries while playing only 34 games in the last two seasons. The 6-9, 228-pound Granger has played in the Pacers’ last 29 games, averaging 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds. The 2009 All-Star and Most Improved Player has seen his career sidetracked by a host of knee injuries, including patellar tendinosis.

Granger is in the final year of his contract, and is making $14.01 million. As Hinkie has shown, he prefers to buy low and sell high – as was the case with casting off All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday as his career trajectory was on its ascension.

The trade brings to an end Evan Turner’s tenure with the Sixers. Turner never lived up to expectations heaped upon him as the No. 2 pick in the 2010 draft. Turner is averaging 17.4 points this season. Over his nearly four-season career, he’s averaged 11.8 points and 5.5 rebounds.

More on this to come…

(Associated Press)

He remembers exactly where he was Jan. 7, when his NBA contract became guaranteed for the remainder of this season.

“We were in Chicago,” the Phoenix Suns’ Dionte Christmas said. “And I was waiting. I knew that day was the day. I had worked out on the court, and just talking to my teammates, they were saying, ‘Usually, they’ll call you into an office and talk.’ The owner and the GM were like, ‘Christmas, we want to talk to you.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, man. Not again. Same old story.’ So I go back and they were playing a joke. They were like, ‘Your time here was good, but…we’re gonna keep you.’

“They pulled a joke on me, but it was a good one. It was probably one of the best days of my career. … It all came together in that moment. It felt good.”

It hasn’t been an ideal first NBA season for Christmas, who’s averaging 2.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 6.7 minutes per game in 22 appearances with Phoenix. But it’s a living. And it’s not in Europe.

Christmas, a Temple graduate, cut his teeth everywhere on the map. In his first four seasons as a pro, he played in Israel, Turkey, Czech Republic, Greece, Russia and Italy. It was all in a bid to stay patient enough for an opportunity such as Monday’s, when he and the Suns came into his hometown of Philadelphia to face the 76ers.

“I remember my mom saying, ‘You can make it. These teams aren’t watching you for nothing,’” said Christmas, who procured more than 50 tickets for the game.

Christmas went as far as to ask his former Temple teammate, Sixers forward Lavoy Allen, and his Suns teammates Marcus and Markieff Morris for a few extra tickets to meet all of the requests he got.

Read more »

(AP)

The 76ers’ Lavoy Allen will not play Friday night against visiting Miami, and is hopeful he can return to the court Saturday night at Chicago.

Sitting out against the Heat makes four games in a row missed by Allen, the third-year forward who had been suffering from a left calf strain. While Allen said the calf is healed up, he said his right knee is causing him pain.

“I feel a little bit better,” Allen said, after Friday morning shootaround. “My knee is bothering me, but hopefully (Saturday) I’ll be ready to go.”

Allen said he aggravated a pre-existing knee condition Wednesday night, while trying to run sprints in pregame warmups before the Sixers’ win over Charlotte. He said he can handle “anything in the half-court,” but experiences right knee pain while sprinting.

Allen is averaging 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds.

(NBA.com)

The 76ers have signed NBA D-League center Dewayne Dedmon to a 10-day deal, a league source said.

The 24-year-old Dedmon will be in Philadelphia and with the team at practice Tuesday at PCOM.

Dedmon (7-0, 255), an undrafted Southern Cal product, played four games with Golden State this season. He’s averaged 15.2 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.33 blocks per game for the Santa Cruz Warriors, the Golden State Warriors’ NBA D-League affiliate.

Dedmon will immediately fill a void for the Sixers, who recently waived center Daniel Orton. They’re also awaiting the returns of forwards Lavoy Allen (calf) and Arnett Moultrie (ankle) from injuries, though neither is expected to be ready by the end of this week.