Philly Front Office

On November 1, 2023, the Philadelphia 76ers traded James Harden to the LA Clippers for their 2028 1st round pick and a 2029 pick swap (along with long departed salary). As the 2026 NBA Trade Deadline approaches and with the Sixers looking to improve, how much are those assets worth? Should they cash in those chips now or wait?

Sixers at the 2026 Trade Deadline

Currently, the Clippers are 23-25, good for 9th place in the West. This is actually an improvement over their abysmal 6-21 start to the season. Are they more like their basement dwelling start or their dominant 17-4 run since then? The better question is, why does it matter? Well, if the current core stays in contention, they are less likely to blow it up in the near future. Let’s take a look.

Clippers Roster Going Forward

The Clippers two big ticket vets are Kawhi Leonard and James Harden and both are under contract for next year (Harden has a player option). By the 2027-28 season, Leonard will be 36 and Harden will be 38. Though both are playing at a high level now, predicting that for 2 years from now is tough. Extensions for both are possible, especially with few draft picks in their hopper to trade.

The only player with a guaranteed contract for 27-28 is Ivica Zubac. 2025 30th overall pick, Yanic Konan Niederhauser isn’t guaranteed past 26/27, but he is the only player on the current roster more than likely to be on the team by 28-29. What I am getting at is that their books are VERY clean by the time the Sixers will be cheering for Clippers losses.

Future Picks

The Clippers don’t just owe picks to the Sixers, they owe their 2026 pick to the Thunder who also have the right to swap picks in 2027. They may have a 2026 2nd round pick from the Grizzlies, but that is protected 31-42. They also have their own 2026 2nd, but that has some swap rights built in. The next pick that they own outright is their own 2030 1st. After that, they are back to normal. Normal-ish…

I say “normal-ish” because the Clippers are currently under investigation by the NBA. Pablo Torre recently found out that the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer may have had improper business, and NBA salary cap circumventing, deals with Kawhi Leonard and a company called Aspiration. If the NBA finds that the team broke rules, they could take away several years’ worth of draft picks and even attempt to vote Ballmer out of the league. There’s even a chance something could happen with any contract involving Leonard. Needless to say, the Clippers having cap room is one thing, but draft capital is completely different. The value of the picks will fluctuate depending on the possible punishment.

Pablo Found Out About the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard

The Next Two Offseasons

Since the Clippers are humming right now, there is no reason to expect they will break things up at the deadline. The real question is what they do this offseason. Assuming Harden opts in to his contract, they will need to decide whether to run it back for 2026-27. Most of their roster is not on guaranteed contracts next season and getting to be $35m under the projected salary cap will not be a problem. The following season, they only have Zubac’s $21m on the books. Needless to say, the Clippers can spend.

The problem with that strategy is that they do not have much they can spend that money on. There are fun free agent names out there like Lebron James and Trae Young, but the best they are realistically looking at is Jonathan Kuminga and Zach LaVine.

Come the 2027 offseason the Clippers could be contemplating life after Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, but doing so with little actual talent on the team. A complete overhaul isn’t out of the question, and they could have about $150m to do it. Of course, this is the season everyone has been waiting for: Giannis, KAT, Donovan Mitchell, and even Jokic could be available. Whether they are available though is another story, but the Clippers financial options are the boogieman in this whole inquiry.

Thank You Paul George!

So, About Those Picks…

Right now, the value is solid, better than your average picks, but with some volatility in their futures. The best-case scenario for Sixers fans is that the Clippers go all in on another run with Leonard and Harden and actually extend both. This would then cause the team to go heavy on vets once again. This may cause them to make some bad roster decisions for the following 2 seasons.

As for the rest of the league, we need Giannis to get traded to a team that will keep him and for Mitchell and Jokic to sign their extensions. If the NBA doesn’t come down on the Clippers, they will have up to three 1sts and two swaps available by the 2027 offseason. A possible killer for the Sixers is that the Clippers have a very good coach in Ty Lue and a very good GM in Lawrence Frank. We need to hope their opportunities are limited by players simply not being available.

That last part is why I wouldn’t be mad if the Sixers moved the picks. Get someone to buy high on the Clippers now and get future talent while you can. Waiting them out might seem fun, but the Clippers have been far too competent for too long. They may regularly blow it in the playoffs, but they haven’t been in the lottery in 15 years. They will have no interest in bottoming out and will just spend money to stay relevant if they have to.

The Sixers don’t have to move them at the deadline, but the offseason is a different story. I would get off these picks by the draft at the latest.

All contractual information via Spotrac