Philadelphia 76ers Had an Awful Trade Deadline

The Philadelphia 76ers had one of the worst trade deadlines in the entire NBA this season.

The Philadelphia 76ers are notorious for making questionable moves at the trade deadline, but this year’s draft seemed to be a case of playing it safe. But even when the Sixers play it safe, and perhaps even exclusively when they play it safe, they still make moves that end up putting their team in awkward and bad positions. They had one of the worst, if not the worst trade deadline in the entire NBA this season.

The Sixers were rumored to be taking calls on two of their big men, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, but weren’t actively shopping them around. Which was a good thing, because with the uncertainty of Joel Embiid‘s foot, there’s no way that they should be looking to move one of two possible cornerstone pieces of the franchise.

With those two out of the picture, there weren’t many other players on the below-average roster of Philly that the Sixers could lobby to move to other teams, but they still ended up making a deal. The team was a part of a three-team trade that landed Joel Anthony on their squad, and also gave them a second-round pick, while not having to directly give any important players to any other teams. Indirectly, though, the Sixers did have to waive JaKarr Sampson to make room for Anthony. The plan appeared to be to waive Anthony, then re-sign JaKarr. But the plan did not go as the Sixers expected.

One of the players that was going to the Detroit Pistons as a part of this deal from the Houston Rockets failed a physical. This player was Donatas Motiejunas, who was recovering from a herniated disc in his back. Because of this, the Pistons were allowed to veto and back out of the trade, thus nullifying all parts of it. They did so, as they didn’t want a player out of shape on their roster. Since the trade deadline passed in the meantime, a counter-trade can not be offered. This cancels out both the transaction for Anthony, and the draft pick.

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What wasn’t a part of the transaction though, was the Sixers’ decision to waive Sampson. That move was — although done to make room for Anthony — technically unrelated to the trade, and not reversible outside of Sampson signing another contract. In the waiting hours of finding out if the Anthony trade would even go through, Sampson signed another contract with the Denver Nuggets.

All of this didn’t come to a conclusion until Monday afternoon, four days after the Thursday trade deadline. But four days later, we could finally look at the Sixers’ trade deadline and decide whether it was one of quality or not, and at first glance, it definitely wasn’t good. The Sixers practically gave one of the most beloved and charismatic Sixers away to the Nuggets for nothing in return.

Now, I know, “charisma” shouldn’t be a reason for an NBA player to be missed, we should instead be lamenting the Sixers releasing him for his on-court play and contributions to games won. The reality is, though, when your team has won less than 10 games with only around 30 left to play, you are kind of permitted as a fan to miss a player for pretty much any reason you deem necessary. And a lot of fans deemed a nice smile and great laugh as a good reason to miss him.

Some may argue the same thing that was argued last year when Michael Carter-Williams was traded away for a draft pick — we can’t judge this trade until we know what we got for it. I stand behind that with the Lakers’ future pick that is owned by the Sixers because of Carter-Williams, but not with the botched trade from this year. That draft pick from last year furthers the rebuilding process. The move at this deadline did nothing but ruin chemistry for this team and free up a roster spot that the Sixers will now have to scramble to figure out what to do with it. Sure, they’ve got options, but signing any D-League player or free agent at this point won’t help their chances this season, and won’t help build much chemistry going further, either.

One of the large points of this season amongst all the losing is to build chemistry as much as possible with the roster, and figure out who works well together, and who the team can live without this upcoming offseason. And sure, Sampson probably was going to be cut sooner or later, but losing him mid-season may disrupt some chemistry between other players still on the roster.

Next: Sixers Next Moves: Releasing And Signing

The ruined trade deadline wasn’t particularly anyone’s fault in the front office, but it’s the first time I’ve been frustrated with the rebuilding process this season. I’ve seen the positives in the hiring of Jerry Colangelo, of trading for Ish Smith, and of opting to keep Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel on the team for the entire season, but this botched move is one of the hardest ones to come to terms with.