Tacko Fall has made a career out of being the most unlikely roster addition on any team he joins. Back in 2019, after going undrafted out of UCF, Fall signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Boston and became an instant fan favorite despite playing sparingly. His sheer size turned warmup layup lines into a spectacle regardless of what the box score said.
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Seven years and several continents later, that same size is exactly why Philadelphia just handed him a roster spot behind former MVP Joel Embiid. The 76ers are converting Fall’s Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way deal, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, giving the 30-year-old center his first NBA opportunity since the 2021-22 season.
At 7-foot-6, Fall stands taller than every player in the league, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama included, who checks in at 7-foot-4.
The timing wasn’t a coincidence. Reserve center Ariel Hukporti tore his Achilles in the 76ers’ preseason opener against the Knicks, an injury that immediately thinned out Philadelphia’s center rotation.
Fall himself missed the entire preseason with a hip strain, but according to The Athletic’s Tony Jones, Fall made a real impact in the locker room and played well in camp before the injury. He gets the final two-way spot.
He’ll split time between the Sixers and their G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, and is eligible to appear in up to 50 regular-season games, though not the playoffs unless Philadelphia later converts him to a standard deal.
Joel Embiid will start at center as long as he’s healthy, with Adem Bona set up as the primary backup behind him. Fall’s addition is about organizational insurance more than rotation minutes, giving Philadelphia a third traditional big alongside Bona, Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker at a position that just lost one of its options to a season-ending injury.
His NBA track record is sparse, just 37 career appearances between Boston and Cleveland totaling 90 rebounds and 30 blocks in 228 minutes. But a healthy, physically imposing body in practice every day carries value regardless of how often he actually plays on game nights.
Fall’s path back to the league ran through stops in China and with the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s NBL. A winding road that included a reunion waiting for him in Philadelphia: Jaylen Brown, his former Celtics teammate, now wears a Sixers jersey too.
For a 76ers roster already carrying championship-level expectations with Embiid, Brown, Tyrese Maxey and LeBron James, Fall’s signing is a low-cost, low-risk move. It restores some of the frontcourt depth Philadelphia lost when Hukporti went down. And it comes from a player whose size alone makes him impossible to miss on an NBA roster, even on a two-way deal.