How Serious Were the Blazers and Sixers About a Trade?

In NBA trade rumors, the Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers were discussing a trade involving Jahlil Okafor. How serious was it?

When we first heard about NBA trade rumors regarding the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers reported by David Aldridge, we sort of brushed them off as unimportant after all that had happened for the Sixers over the past several days. The team had been unable to pull off what seemed like an easy trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, and missed out big time on clearing their frontcourt logjam.

The Sixers have been hard to take seriously, as they seem to be calling teams and stringing them along, overvaluing their bigs and making it incredibly hard to deal with them.

The Sixers have certainly not been a favorite around the league, that’s for sure. So there was reason for skepticism. But as Derek Bodner pointed out on Monday night, Zach Lowe later confirmed Aldridge’s initial report in his own column.

Here’s exactly what Lowe had to say:

"As David Aldridge reported over the weekend, Portland and Philly were very close to a Jahlil Okafor deal, according to several league sources. The Sixers did not hold Okafor out for two games just to drum up the price, though they certainly had that in mind as a possible ripple effect. It wasn’t just a smokescreen."

For one, this does make Colangelo look a little better. After reports from The Ringer last week from Kevin O’Connor, it seemed as if the Sixers had just one team interested, and held out Jahlil Okafor from competition because they were looking to bluff and get other teams in on him.

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How serious were the talks? Well, according to Lowe, “very close.” I have a feeling that the Sixers might have even felt like they were closer with the Blazers than they were with the Pelicans, and that may be why they held him out. At the time of holding Okafor out, it seemed like the talks with the Pelicans had halted. Then again, we didn’t even really know about the Blazers and how close they were with the Sixers, so it’s really hard to say just how close “very close” truly is.

If I had to bet money, I would guess that the Blazers were pretty serious, but their trade for Jusuf Nurkic must have been more attractive.

Like Lowe says, that may have been an underlying motive, but not the leading factor. Which is good to hear, because the Sixers looked foolish with the way O’Connor presented the situation. But now, here we are, and it’s tough to tell whether this is good or bad.

Next: What Does the Cousins Trade Mean for Okafor?

Good, because the Sixers had teams interested. Bad, because they let a deal pass them by, likely waiting for more value to come up. This trade deadline season is quite confusing, and much more complex than last year. At this rate, it feels like the deadline coming and going with no Sixers transactions is a very real possibility.