What Philadelphia 76ers Rumors Mean for Current Guards

Philadelphia 76ers rumors are flying around about a possible trade. What does it mean for current guards?

The official trade market is not yet open in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean teams aren’t planning ahead. The Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks have reportedly opened up conversation about possibly sending Nerlens Noel to the Hawks and Jeff Teague to the Sixers.

The deal is far from done, but the conversations have been started. With this deal came a lot of implications from the Sixers. For one, it’s clear that Jahlil Okafor is not the only big man that can be traded. Secondly, there are also implications that the Sixers are not only shopping their big men, but looking for a point guard in return. This is slightly encouraging to some, but devastating to hear for others. It definitely shows that team president Bryan Colangelo is looking to win now.

There are also implications that Jerami Grant and Richaun Holmes now have solid roles on this team as defensive players. On top of those implications are implications for the players that were the important point guards of last season — T.J. McConnell and Ish Smith.

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McConnell had an interesting rise to become an NBA player. Going into his first summer league as an undrafted player, he had a lot to prove. He did it, and kept proving everyone wrong. By the time the regular season rolled around, he was playing on the team, and eventually named as the starting point guard.

Smith, on the other hand, had a different trail. The Sixers had an opportunity to re-sign Smith before the season began, but opted not to. After no point guard was able to score and pass like Smith could, the Sixers traded with the New Orleans Pelicans on Christmas Eve to get Smith back, sending two second-round draft picks to the Pelicans in return for Smith.

Both players had solid seasons with the Sixers, but still, with a pivotal offseason in front of the team, there were questions about who would remain on the team once the season began. Trades like this — should it, or trades like this pan out — will only change the roster.

With Jeff Teague on the team, there is little reason to keep both Ish Smith and T.J. McConnell. Teague, who was an All-Star last season, averaged 15.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game this season. What’s worth noting is that there weren’t a ton of minutes to go around between Teague with the Hawks, since they also played Dennis Schroder at point guard, and rarely played the two at the same time. We could potentially see those numbers go up with Teague potentially on the Sixers next season.

Now, Teague is basically Ish Smith, but much better at just about everything. Smith was a solid fill-in, but there’s a reason no one was actively pursuing Ish when he was a free agent last season. Many think after his impressive year in New Orleans and Philadelphia this season that he will get many more calls this offseason, but I don’t think we’ll see that much of a difference this year compared to last year.

That brings up another point. Smith is a free agent, and after what he’s done for Philly the past two seasons (he came on partway through the year in both seasons, each time improving the team’s total points as well as offensive rating) he’s going to want an increase in his salary from Philadelphia if they want to keep him. It might not be a huge increase, but he definitely thinks of himself as worth more than just over $1 million, which is what he was making last year.

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On the other hand, T.J. McConnell is on contract through 2017, and potentially through 2019 (that season is a team option). He’s making less than $1 million per season.

If the Sixers are faced with having to choose just one of these two guards — McConnell or Smith — to stick on the team once a player like Teague is brought on, they should, and probably will, choose McConnell. He is a skilled point guard who will get better next season, and is currently with the team for a very low price.

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Smith was valuable to the team for the past two seasons, but with a player like Teague on the team, there’s much less of a reason to have him with the team. Because of that, the Sixers will likely keep T.J. McConnell, and not Ish Smith, if they complete a trade for Jeff Teague.