Last season, the Chicago Bulls gave up on former draft pick Dalen Terry, dumping him in a trade. For a moment it seemed that Terry had found a new home in Philadelphia, but LeBron James coming to town pushed Terry right off of the roster.
There was a long moment in time when it seemed like Dalen Terry was going to be another Chicago hit at the guard position, a long and rangy shooting guard who could defend multiple positions and knock down shots. From Ayo Dosunmu at the high end to Jevon Carter at the low end, the Bulls have a track record in the last decade of uncovering these players.
Dalen Terry fell short
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Terry was going to be the next player in that line of succession, and he had the best draft capital of any of them. The 6'6" Tempe native stayed home for college and played for Arizona, and the Bulls drafted him 18th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. The hype was high for a player many had even higher than 18th on their draft boards.
Then his NBA career began, and all of the hype dissolved. Terry was unable to find his niche, averaging a paltry 3.5 points per game across four seasons in Chicago. The shot never surfaced: he went from 25.9 percent as a rookie to...31.9 percent by the end of his Bulls tenure. In 204 games with Chicago he had only 100 assists to 101 personal fouls.
He was a fine defender, but the Bulls always had better options to defend 1s and 2s who didn't kill them on offense. That is why there was some thought that Terry could find a new home and fight his way into relevance.
Terry was dumped by Chicago to the New York Knicks in the Guerschon Yabusele deal, who then flipped him immediately to the New Orleans Pelicans to land Jose Alvarado. The Pelicans waived him the next day, and he caught on with the Philadelphia 76ers. It was there he appeared to find a new home when the 76ers signed him to a standard contract.
LeBron James forced Dalen Terry out
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Alas, it was not to be.
Terry's contract was non-guaranteed, so the ground he was standing on was tenuous. If LeBron James had chosen to return home to Cleveland, or team up with Stephen Curry, or take his talents to South Beach, then Terry might have been safe and had a chance in training camp to fight his way into the back-end of the rotation as the team's defensive specialist.
Instead, LeBron coming to Philly and signing a two-year minimum contract meant the Sixers needed to clear a few dollars under the first tax apron. That meant Terry was the odd man out. As of Sunday, the 76ers had already executed the move: Terry has been waived, and LeBron has been signed.
With four years of experience in the NBA, Terry is ineligible to sign a two-way contract with another team. If no one claims him off waivers, he may find it difficult to find a contract around the league. He may need to decide between signing a mere training camp deal and expecting to play in the G League, or heading overseas.
That is how razor-thin the margins can be in the NBA. Terry went from on track to be on the roster of a playoff team to facing a future outside of the league. All because LeBron thought that Jaylen Brown and Tyrese Maxey were a better combo than Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley.
The Bulls gave up on Terry months ago. Now the 76ers have done the same, and he is adrift in the wind. In part because of his own shortcomings, and in part because LeBron James is a freight train and everyone else just gets out of the way.
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