Doubling Down Draft
It began with the Jrue Holiday trade in the 2013 NBA Draft. The Philadelphia 76ers traded Holiday and second round pick Pierre Jackson to the New Orleans Pelicans for their sixth pick of the 2013 NBA Draft Nerlens Noel, and a top five protected first round pick in the 2014 draft. At the time, many considered the move simply a surrender. The pundits interpreted the trade of Jrue Holiday as the disassemble of a competitive team. But the truth was that it was a move that gave poker-faced Sam Hinkie his stake for the next draft.
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In the 2014 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers held the tenth pick, the pick gleaned from the Pelicans the previous year. At that pick, the Philadelphia 76ers chose Louisianna-Lafayette point guard Eldrid Payton. The move was surprising in that the team held Michael Carter-Williams at that position, and had just earned rookie of the year.
But Hinkie was aware of the Orlando Magic’s interest in Payton, and just two picks later with just 30 seconds remaining on the clock, managed to reach an agreement to send Payton to the Magic for the Magic’s twelfth pick, power forward Dario Saric, the 2017 first round pick that the 76ers had given in the Andrew Bynum trade, and a 2015 second round pick, which would be used to select power forward Richaun Holmes.
Actually, imagine trading Dario Saric, Richaun Holmes* and a first-round pick for Elfrid Payton https://t.co/QkhVKnwCf9
— donyatesacab (@donyatesnba) October 7, 2016
The trade, like many exchanges brokered by Hinkie, was complex and needed to be unwrapped to fully understand the intricacies and value of the deal.