Should Sixers Trade a Pick if They Get More Than One in Lottery?

The Philadelphia 76ers could potentially get two lottery picks this year. If they do, should they trade one of them for a player?

The Philadelphia 76ers are poised to make some noise in mid-May. No, they won’t be competing in the conference finals portion of the NBA Playoffs, but their name will come up quite a bit in NBA news as the NBA Draft Lottery on May 16th approaches.

This is because the Sixers have set themselves up well to be one of the teams that is in the running for the top overall pick in the NBA Draft. Last year, the Sixers had the best odds of winning the top pick, and did in fact win it, selecting Ben Simmons with it.

This season, they have the fourth best odds at getting the top overall pick, and also have the right to swap picks with the Sacramento Kings if the Kings’ pick position ends up being better than Philly’s. So if Sacramento wins the top pick, the Sixers will get their pick, giving Sacramento their pick.

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Overall, pick swap included, the Sixers have a 14.7 percent chance at winning the top pick, and a 45.3 percent chance of getting a pick in the top three.

Now, even more interesting is the idea that the Sixers could have two lottery picks this year thanks to a past trade with the Los Angeles Lakers that gives them the Lakers pick this year as long as it falls outside of the top three. If it is inside the top three, the Lakers keep it. This was also in effect last year, but did not convey. Next season, the pick belongs to the Sixers with no protections attached, so some fans are hoping in the back of their minds that it doesn’t convey, because it looks like the Lakers could be one of the worst teams next year as well.

Still, there is a 53.1 percent chance overall that the Sixers get the Lakers pick, which would mean the Sixers would own two lottery draft picks at that point.

The question then becomes — What in the world do the Sixers do with it?

I’ve already discussed the options the Sixers have if they don’t get any picks in the top three (because yes, that is possible) and here, they do have some similar routes they could take.

For one, they could keep the picks and use them. Hopefully they are positioned at one and four, but they could be any combination of the Sixers pick being 1-through-7, and the Lakers pick falling 4-through-6. So, yes, unfortunately it is possible that the Sixers have picks 6 and 7 overall, which isn’t necessarily bad, but would be disappointing considering there is less than a two percent chance the Sixers come out with that outcome.

Secondly, they could keep the top pick and attempt to trade the second pick for an established player, or even rights to a future pick. Now, trading for a future pick seems like it wouldn’t accomplish much, but what it allows the Sixers to do is focus more on whoever the Sixers draft with that top pick, and not have to spread their development among several different players in one season.

The future in Philadelphia may become all about layering talent underneath established players, and delaying a pick until later could allow Philly to do that.

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Third, they could, if the picks are both not in the top three, attempt to package them together and trade up to get in the top three. Now, this would be somewhat difficult considering the Sixers would then only have three teams that they could possibly deal with, but if they can convince those teams that they would be better off adding two later first-round picks than just one early first-round pick, it could work out.

That is actually something highly plausible in this year’s draft. There is a lot of talent at any portion in the lottery, so teams may think about getting two later picks rather one early pick in this season more than any season before. Still, that’s a reason for the Sixers to consider just keeping the two picks as well.

Truthfully, the best option seems to be to keep the picks and draft just whoever is best available at that time. There isn’t a ton of pressure to go out and get a star in this year’s draft (although it would be nice) simply because the Sixers are debuting Ben Simmons as a rookie next year as well. That said, as always, if a good trade is available, we need Colangelo to be active. Most importantly, even if the team intends on keeping both picks, they need to poll other teams and see what’s out there and what the value of them is.

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No matter what the team decides to do with those picks if they do end up getting two of them, they should be set up for success. It’s pretty hard to mess something like that up, but you really never know with this team, right?