Philadelphia 76ers Should Not Trade Jahlil Okafor

The Philadelphia 76ers almost certainly have to trade at least one big man over the next few years. It shouldn’t be Jahlil Okafor.

Jahlil Okafor was never supposed to be a Philadelphia 76ers player. It’s been well documented that neither side–the Sixers front office or people around Okafor–had a plan A of him ending up in Philly. His family, friends, and agent, of course, thought he would do better learning alongside Kobe Bryant in his last season and of course, in the bright city of Los Angeles. But instead, he ended up in southeastern Pennsylvania, a city that isn’t known for its glamour, but more for its pride in its sports, and perhaps its violence. Both of which Okafor has lived up to.

Okafor probably won’t win Rookie of the Year, even though he should. Although he’s been impressive statistically, he hasn’t been a part of as many wins as Kristaps Porzingis or Karl Anthony-Towns have, and the violence I talked about earlier will be present in voters’ minds when they turn their ballots in.

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Okafor got into more than one street fight in Boston following a loss to the Boston Celtics earlier this year. A video of him was put up on TMZ on Thanksgiving day, and an even worse one appeared a few weeks later. Is that the face we want being Rookie of the Year for the NBA? Ideally, no. And is that the face we want behind a franchise? Again, ideally, no. But his playing has been enough to help us forget about that.

The Sixers, in all reality, probably have to trade away a big man within the next few years. It’s a shame, because all three of their big men being considered for a trade have bright futures in the NBA. Nerlens Noel is talented on each end of the floor, able to run pick-and-rolls well, and is an incredible rim protector. Joel Embiid may be an incredibly dominant center for years to come, and we’ve already seen the scoring shows Jahlil Okafor can put on. There’s reason to get rid of at least one of these guys. Distributing minutes between the three will almost certainly be a challenge with how talented they are, and there’s bound to be a power trip with the starting lineups. You can’t start all three guys.

I’ve written on who the best option to trade is before, and my opinion on the matter has changed several times over the course of the season. But I’ve come to at least one conclusion that I believe I will hold through the rest of this season and until the team ultimately makes a decision–the Philadelphia 76ers should not voluntarily trade Jahlil Okafor.

I get the argument, because we’ve watched some differences in the game between the Sixers offense and the Jahlil offense this year. A slowed down offense works better for Okafor, but Brett Brown–and now even more with the addition of fact-paced point guard Ish Smith–wants to kick up the pace. But that’s this year. And this year, it’s not going so well, is it? The team is striving for the number one overall pick in next year’s draft, and they went 31 games before getting just two wins. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s not a disgrace to the rebuilding effort if Okafor doesn’t fit into a system that yielded three wins through the first half of the season.

What the Sixers have on their hands is one of the most historic young players in years. Will Okafor go down with his name mentioned alongside league legends, or even Sixers legends? It’s hard to say, but with the precedent he has set, it’s hard not to imagine him putting himself in that place by the time his career is all said and done.

Through 40 games, Okafor had already scored over 700 points, averaging 17.5 points per game. Alongside that, he had 8.6 rebounds per game and over a block per game. Above every other statistic has been his scoring, which has been promising, and even historic.

Right from the start, Okafor was a high scorer. In his NBA debut, he scored 26 points. It wasn’t until his ninth game that he would have a game with less than 10 points, and through 40 games, Okafor was only prevented from getting into double-digit scoring on three occasions. He’s scored more than 20 points 18 times. That’s impressive for any NBA player, but add the fact that Jah is just barely 20 years old and it becomes even more impressive what he’s been able to do at a professional level.

The high level of scoring has been a product of being able to score in several ways on the floor. Okafor is a deadly post up player, and has success at the elbows and the left side of the hoop as well. The Sixers are also pushing him to take more mid-range shots to make him a more effective pick-and-roll player. The idea of him improving in even more areas should get Sixers fans excited.

Okafor came into the league with no road bumps. In fact, he came into the league fixing some problems he had in college, where other rookies often face challenges adjusting to the league in addition to problems they had in college. Okafor has improved his two greatest issues from his time at Duke already this season–his free throw shooting and his defense. His ceiling is incredibly hard to define at the stage he’s progressing. At the moment, it seems infinite. Obviously, it has a limit somewhere, but I couldn’t tell you where it is, or even take a guess.

The reality is, Okafor definitely has a higher ceiling than Nerlens Noel, and arguably a currently higher ceiling than Joel Embiid. Okafor is one of the best 20 and under players in the NBA, and possibly the number one scorer 20 years or under in the NBA.

I’ve heard people argue that Noel’s defense is a good reason to keep him around, saying that the idea is you keep your opponent from scoring more than you, and you win the game. Noel blocks less than two shots per game, which at most equates to 6 points. The only way I see his defense being more valuable than Okafor’s offense is if he keeps an equivalent of 17.5 opponent points per game out of the hoop, which is not going to happen. Okafor producing those 17.5 points per game on the other end, though? That’s already happening.

Okafor might not be the perfect fit right now, but you have to move the pieces around him. Going out and acquiring players that work well with Okafor should be the goal, not trading Okafor because he doesn’t work well with utility players like JaKarr Sampson and Hollis Thompson who won’t be long-term pieces of the rebuild.

Next: Philadelphia 76ers Midterm Grades

Getting rid of a player like Okafor would be unwise of the Sixers management. Okafor is a player that you build around, he’s the foundation of a competitive team. A deal made with Okafor is not.