2017 Trade Deadline Looms Larger For Philadelphia 76er Jahlil Okafor

Current Jahlil Okafor Trade Rumors For 76ers Off-Season May Be Premature. 2017 Trade Deadline Looms as Larger Hurdle

Two is company, three’s a crowd. Never was that phrase more appropriate than the Philadelphia 76ers center position, where the team is facing trying to fit Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, and a recovering Joel Embiid into a center and perhaps power forward roles. Its simply a cerebral exercise at this point and very expected: word leaked that the Philadelphia 76ers had received an offer for center Jahlil Okafor from the Boston Celtics at last year’s trade deadline, an offer which was both declined and denied by the Philadelphia 76ers. But staring at the reality of Joel Embiid’s return, there is that logic that comes with it.

If the team has struggled to share court time with both Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor, then there is little chance of any attempt to coordinate time for three big men.

But what is the true rush for Philadelphia? They’ve carried a rehabbing Joel Embiid on their roster for two years running, and have essentially played the entire two seasons with one fewer player than any other NBA team. 164 games with a roster of 14 versus 164 games with a roster of 15 is not an advantage.

Jahlil Okafor became a Philadelphia 76er at the third pick of the 2015 NBA draft, a surprising development rising from the actions of the Los Angeles Lakers choice of point guard D’Angelo Russell at that spot. The move seemed to be a stroke of good fortune when news of Joel Embiid’s second surgery and additional year of rehab became public last summer. The problem of a rebuilding team with a young man with a history of winning became evident when Okafor succumbed to public heckling and got into an exchange with rowdy Boston Celtics fans.

Lesson learned.

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This season center Jahlil Okafor has led the team in scoring, and had demonstrated a strong offensive presence in the post. That is, until a meniscus tear with just more than a month of basketball remaining has ended his season prematurely, just as the rehabilitation of Embiid appears to be advancing to the next phase of more basketball related activities. Trade rumors have been part of the background noise over Okafor’s status with the team since he has been drafted. In fact, there has never been a time since Jahlil Okafor had arrived where there was not a quiet consensus that the team had pre-deterimined the Jahlil Okafor/Joel Embiid has been an “Either Or” situation.

So far, Okaar has continued to remain on the team. There are two reasons to make the trade of Jahlil Okafor, and neither scenario seems likely to happen this off-season. either the Philadelphia 76ers need draft picks, or the value of what the Philadelphia 76ers receive exceeds the value of what they surrender. At this point in time, neither scenario seems likely.

With the advent of the 2016 NBA draft, there is the perception that this draft contains prospects whose value exceed that of Jahlil Okafor to the team. Perhaps, but with four first round draft picks (two potential lottery picks) plus the return of Joel Embiid plus the arrival of Dario Saric, it’s a tough argument to make that the Sixers need MORE draft picks this year. Even if the Los Angeles Lakers pick does roll over into 2017, the Sixers have the equivalent of an entire new lineup arriving this off-season. And while the team will make moves to assemble starters who compliment the core of the team, those move will be driven out of the need to upgrade better fits elsewhere.

But those moves can happen with free agency or by surrendering late first round draft picks. The Sixers have as much as they can handle in the “on-boarding” of the upcoming off season. With an array of 33% of the team or greater already known to be changing, the team has reached its capacity of developing even well coached players into Philadelphia 76ers. So the point of the team needing draft picks now seems misplaced.

The alternative scenario is that the team is simply “wow’d” with an offer that exceeds their value of the player. Right now, that value appears to be low. But to the Sixers, is it really? They invested a three pick of the 2015 NBA draft, and now have an NBA starting center who is one of the best in the league in terms of post games. So the team would be looking to get back the equivalent of no less than a three pick. But with a season-ending surgery, who will offer such compensation?

Even in the trade deadline rumors of the Boston Celtics hot pursuit of Jahlil Okafor, the compensation appeared to hinge on the Brooklyn Nets first round pick – a pick whose lottery range could land from first overall all the way to seventh. This is the draft where the Sixers already have one and a better than 40% chance of two top five picks. It’s no surprise that deal fell through.

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With no certainty of when Joel Embiid will truly be able to bear the yolk of starting for the Philadelphia 76ers, and with the team in desperate need of improving next season, the “gotta do something now” with Okafor seems incredibly unnecessary. The Sixers need do nothing but wait. Wait to see how quickly Joel Embiid improves. Wait to see how well Jahlil Okafor recovers and improves in his second season. Wait to see what the arrival of so many new faces does for the team. Wait to see which combination of Noel Embiid Okafor truly optimizes what the Philadelphia 76ers are trying to accomplish. Then, after nearly a season of sorting through an entirely new set of combinations, basketball analytics data, and a brand new set of NBA playoff hopeful teams desperate to add a scoring threat at the center position, the Sixers will once more have the advantage.

To be honest, that 2017 NBA draft looks to be much stronger, and the Sixers have only one draft pick next year.