By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When the Philadelphia 76ers made big man Jonah Bolden their No. 36 overall draft selection in 2017, the expectation was that he would be stashed over in Israel for at least one more season, two at the absolute most.
Former team president Bryan Colangelo's expectation of bringing the 22-year-old Aussie over from Maccabi Tel Aviv never wavered, as the disgruntled GM made it clear that the Sixers planned on bringing Bolden over for the 2018-19 season after he dazzled in the 2017 Summer League.
Bolden's athleticism on defense and offense showed that he could potentially be a dark horse for one of the key pieces to the Sixers' future bench. His awareness and relationship with Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons showed that he was a great fit for a young, budding Sixers roster.
Back in March, the picture looked a little more muddy, as international basketball insider David Pick told Sports Talk Philly that Maccabi Tel Aviv was going to make it a little more difficult for the Sixers to bring Bolden over for the upcoming season and a union in 2019-20 made a little more sense.
But as the months have progressed and changes have been made within the Sixers organization, the act of bringing Jonah Bolden over to the NBA for this season looks a lot more promising than it did before.
Pick reported about a week ago that the Sixers planned on using the 6-10 Bolden in trade discussions as talks for Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard heated up. Then, Pick reported that the Sixers had submitted a request for Bolden to play in the Summer League which kicks off this Friday. The Athletic's Derek Bodner confirmed a little while later that the Sixers would indeed have Bolden added to the roster for the second straight year.
Related: Bolden, Smith headline Sixers Summer League Roster
Keith Pompey of Philly.com talked with Bolden before the Sixers' first game Friday against the Boston Celtics, asking the stash forward prospect what his plans were for the upcoming season.
"I mean, my plan is to come this year," said Bolden. "That was the plan from day one with Bryan (Colangelo). That's still the plan now without Bryan."
"Much respect to Bryan, I'm appreciative of what he did for me from day one until the end of his time with the team."
"But yeah, you know, the plan is to come over this season, 2018-19, and that was the plan from last year to now, nothing's changed really."
Bolden had signed a one-year deal for the upcoming season with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League, but Bolden says his agent and team are currently working on a buyout so he can become a member of the Sixers this season.
"It's between my agent, my team (Sixers), and the team I was on, Maccabi."
So as the roster currently sits at 17 players, the addition of Bolden to the team would push the number to 18, meaning the Sixers would need to part ways with one player completely before the start of the season. Two players would likely be labeled two-way players, as 2018 second-rounder Shake Milton and possibly Bolden could be players that would fit that bill.
Read: Despite not landing a star, Sixers are set up for improvement
It will be very nice to see Bolden play in the Summer League once again, joining forces with Zhaire Smith, Landry Shamet, Furkan Korkmaz, and many others.
