Philly Front Office

About 6 weeks ago I was putting together possible trades for Paul George and Jared McCain while dangling Kelly Oubre to dodge the tax. How naive I was! The McCain possibilities are laughable now for a guy barely getting any run at all. Should the Sixers trade him now, it would be at the very lowest point of his value. I still think he gets moved though, just not for anything we were previously hoping for.

Assets

• Tradeable Draft Picks:¹
  • 2026 – None
  • 2027 – Sixers 1st, Sixers 2nd, Suns/Warriors 2nd (more favorable)
  • 2028 – Clippers 1st², Sixers 2nd, Warriors 2nd
  • 2029 – Sixers 1st (with right to swap with Clippers), Sixers 2nd
  • 2030 – Sixers 1st, Wizards 2nd, Blazers/Suns 2nd (more favorable)
  • 2031 – Sixers 1st, Sixers 2nd
  • 2032 – Sixers 1st, Sixers 2nd
• Tradeable Contracts³
  • Paul George – $51.7m
  • Kelly Oubre – $8.4m
  • Andre Drummond – $5m
  • Jared McCain – $4.2m
• Cap Space
  • Tax – $-7m
  • 1st Apron – $1m
  • 2nd Apron – $13m

NBA Trade Deadline Sellers

Needs

Funny thing happened on the way to the midpoint of the season, despite just losing 2 in a row to the Cleveland Kryptonite, the Sixers are only 3 games out of the 2 seed in the East. I’m still not optimistic on the team’s championship aspirations, but it’s hard to ignore just how weak the conference is. Flukier things have happened, and Daryl Morey is known for taking his chances when he can. So, what do we need?

With the rise of Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker at power forward, a solid “3 and D” wing should be the top priority. This is basically an upgrade over the Oubre position at best or depth behind him at worst. With the shooting failing to come from Jared McCain, the team needs another weapon. However, if you get one who falls apart at the other end, what’s the point?

I have yet to see backup PG (point guard, not Paul George) listed as a Sixers need, but someone who could effectively take the ball from the NBA leader in minutes once in a while would be nice. Isn’t it crazy that we have been searching for TJ McConnell ever since he left?

As fans, that’s what we are looking for. However, ownership feels slightly different. The team is around $7m over the tax threshold. If they can shed that money AND improve, well that would probably pay more to do that. A swoon over the next few weeks would negate the “and improve” part.

Trades

• Jared McCain for Anthony Black, PG/SG Orlando Magic – The Magic have several shooting guards but, ironically, not nearly enough shooting. They are also about $5.5m over the tax line and facing a payroll crunch next season. McCain simply fits their roster better than the Sixers while Black gives the Sixers a backup ball handler and wing defender. This does put the Sixers into the 1st Apron though, so further trades would need to be made. For the Magic, they would also gain another season before needing to make an extension choice on a roster that is becoming expensive fast.
• Jared McCain and Kelly Oubre for Zaccharie Risacher, SF Atlanta Hawks – Whether the Hawks actually want Oubre doesn’t matter. There are any number of 3 team deals you could make to send him to a contender and get 2nd round picks to the Hawks. This is another roster fit kind of trade. With all the turn over in Atlanta, they now need shooting and someone to handle the ball and do not need wings even if they are the #1 pick. Neither McCain nor Risacher are at peak value at the moment which makes the trade possible.
• Justin Edwards and two 2nds for Keon Ellis, SG Sacramento Kings – Ellis is a pure rental who would jump start the Sixers’ wing rotation. They would inherit his Bird Rights though and would likely get whatever money was previously earmarked for Quentin Grimes. Edwards has a good enough contract and enough upside to wet the whistle of the Kings who are easily duped by such flashy things.
• Kelly Oubre, Andre Drummond, and the Clippers 2028 1st for Herb Jones, SF New Orleans Pelicans – The Pellies have made it clear that they are not trading any of their big name guys, but this is Joe Dumars we are talking about. He’s going to make a move and it will probably be a bad one. We do have to make it worth his while though. The thing here is if this is where we want to throw our Clippers chips in? It would be a lot to pay for Jones and I would rather have Murphy, but we have no way of matching his salary (for anyone wondering, this is why you give Grimes a bigger contract this past offseason, so you could trade it at the very least). We may have to include McCain on this one too. I am liking it less and less as I type.
• Andre Drummond, Justin Edwards, and two 2nd round picks for Ayo Dosunmu, SG, Chicago Bulls – Dosunmu is having a very good season for Chicago but he is also in the last year of his deal before becoming a free agent. The Bulls have a ton of money coming off the books this year and may want to use it to resign him, but these are the Bulls we are talking about. I feel like everyone takes advantage of them but us. I WANT IN!
• (Let’s get unreasonable) Paul George and Justin Edwards to the Warriors for Jimmy Butler and a 1st – This a pure leverage trade. The Warriors do not have the ability to punt a year of Steph Curry’s career right now and the season ending Butler injury does just that. Of course, the same could be said for the Sixers and Joel Embiid, but the allure of moving off a year of the George contract and getting an asset for it might be too much. How would Embiid feel about reuniting with Butler even if it is only next season? The Sixers would need to put the pick to good use and get a replacement for George in the lineup.

Odds

The Sixers are in a very tough place come the deadline. The team has needs and tradeable assets but not the mid-level salaries to actually make anything happen. Putting these trades together was like pulling teeth. I believe the chance of moving McCain is rather high, even if his value is low. The Sixers just do not seem to like him one bit, and he doesn’t really fit the roster as currently constructed. If all else fails though, look for the team to try to get Oubre traded in a 3-team deal where he goes to a contender and a bad contract goes back to the Nets.

1. Due to the Stepian Rule, teams can’t trade all their 1sts in consecutive years. This means the most 1sts we could trade this year is 3 (’28, ’30, ’32). Next year, it will jump to 4 (’27, ’29, ’31, ’33) ↩︎
2. The Sixers 1st is owned by the Nets from the Harden/Simmons trade. It is Top 8 protected but let’s assume we are sending it  ↩︎
3. Not including the minimum contracts or the guys who will definitely not be traded ↩︎