The Philadelphia 76ers failed on a Jahlil Okafor trade this past week, but are open to trading just about anyone on their roster, according to NBA rumors.
What a week it has been for the Philadelphia 76ers. After trade talks regarding team center Jahlil Okafor heated up last weekend, and the team sat him on Saturday because of the talks, and didn’t fly him on Monday, it looked like a deal was just about done.
What we later found out was that Bryan Colangelo was more or less using Okafor as a bluff. This is not the best look, and the fact that it failed makes all of this worse for the Sixers. They need to make some trades and move some big men, but it seems like that’s impossible for them to do, or, at least, impossible for Colangelo to do.
While moving a big man should be the first priority, some fans wondered why Nerlens Noel wasn’t brought up. In addition to that, the Sixers have some other pieces on their team that won’t necessarily be too important for the Sixers moving forward, but can certainly help other teams, so why haven’t we heard of those players being brought up in trade talks?
Steve Kyler revealed on Thursday that the Sixers are still very active on just about everyone on their roster, and may be looking to make some of those trades. Reportedly, they are open to trading just about anyone, excluding the two obvious names — Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
Was told 76ers still very active on almost anyone not named Embiid or Simmons https://t.co/xrUkE4vHql
— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) February 16, 2017
Both Embiid and Simmons look as if they could have long-term incredible potential in the NBA. Embiid has proven that at an NBA level, while Simmons is a bit uncertain because he has yet to play a regular season NBA game. Both players bring up questions as far as injuries are concerned, with both of their young careers being defined more or less by injuries so far.
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But this means that players like Dario Saric, Nik Stauskas, T.J. McConnell, players that seem to have a future with this team, might not be around if the Sixers get a good value offered to them for those players.
Sixers fans shouldn’t be too alarmed with this, because just about every player in the NBA does have a trade possibility at all times within the trading period. LeBron James seems untouchable, and he is, but that’s only because there’s no player that matches what he does. If some team had a James-like player that worked out in a trade and would make Cleveland better, the team would think about moving James.
Same with the Sixers. Yes, Stauskas, McConnell, Saric, and more are valued pieces of the future. But if the right price is offered for any of them, and the projection of the future of a return in a trade is higher than what you forfeit in the short-term, it might be worth doing.
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What reports like this say more than anything is that we shouldn’t expect the Sixers to be quiet leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, no matter how stingy Bryan Colangelo seems to be.