Could the Philadelphia 76ers find a potential Jahlil Okafor suitor in the Charlotte Hornets?
A little inside baseball. When looking at trade partners I tend to start with salary situations. I think that teams are generally loathe to trade talented players simply for basketball purposes. I believe that to assess the viability of any trade, you have to factor in financials. For instance, a team with plenty of salary cap space has little to no incentive to trade a productive player unless he is a cancer in the locker room.
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The GM Perspective
When you look at the NBA, one perspective is wins and losses but another is salary cap. If you want to look for teams who would be candidates to move a good player, look for a mediocre team with a bloated payroll. That is a team in the Venn Diagram of underperforming and lacking flexibility to add talent. This is the situation the Philadelphia 76ers found themselves in when Sam Hinkie was hired as General Manager. So which teams meet these criteria?
For the purposes of analysis, I have taken the HoopsHype salary data, added in wins and done a simple dollars spent per victory. This metric shows a simple roster value ratio.
| TEAM | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Wins | Dollars per Win | |
| 1 | Portland | $137,343,153 | $119,918,760 | $116,763,587 | $60,981,105 | 41 | $3,349,833 |
| 2 | Brooklyn | $63,866,828 | $24,628,535 | $12,385,794 | $0 | 20 | $3,193,341 |
| 3 | LA Lakers | $81,508,029 | $47,628,102 | $48,967,500 | $0 | 26 | $3,134,924 |
| 4 | Phoenix | $69,865,658 | $54,846,774 | $16,769,870 | $0 | 24 | $2,911,069 |
| 5 | Charlotte | $103,961,458 | $96,015,590 | $80,443,377 | $42,546,164 | 36 | $2,887,818 |
| 6 | Orlando | $82,907,829 | $65,550,262 | $41,250,000 | $17,000,000 | 29 | $2,858,891 |
| 7 | Milwaukee | $110,580,750 | $68,892,532 | $58,182,593 | $27,528,088 | 42 | $2,632,875 |
| 8 | Detroit | $95,333,174 | $88,146,161 | $54,688,017 | $28,751,774 | 37 | $2,576,572 |
| 9 | New Orleans | $86,397,366 | $63,803,325 | $61,025,869 | $28,751,775 | 34 | $2,541,099 |
| 10 | New York | $77,277,733 | $76,420,095 | $41,195,895 | $0 | 31 | $2,492,830 |
| 11 | Cleveland | $125,214,676 | $125,639,481 | $81,144,582 | $0 | 51 | $2,455,190 |
| 12 | Minnesota | $73,499,899 | $36,926,808 | $16,229,213 | $17,287,640 | 31 | $2,370,964 |
| 13 | Oklahoma City | $110,482,524 | $105,703,170 | $52,176,197 | $48,528,088 | 47 | $2,350,692 |
| 14 | Miami | $93,143,837 | $88,626,527 | $65,556,288 | $0 | 41 | $2,271,801 |
| 15 | Memphis | $92,188,766 | $83,251,936 | $83,209,835 | $34,502,130 | 43 | $2,143,925 |
| 16 | LA Clippers | $108,406,193 | $57,403,025 | $0 | $0 | 51 | $2,125,612 |
| 17 | Chicago | $79,244,172 | $34,199,377 | $19,841,627 | $0 | 41 | $1,932,785 |
| 18 | Sacramento | $61,155,425 | $16,739,500 | $0 | $0 | 32 | $1,911,107 |
| 19 | Washington | $89,808,275 | $89,990,292 | $43,093,018 | $28,751,774 | 49 | $1,832,822 |
| 20 | Dallas | $59,980,226 | $56,071,871 | $35,361,887 | $0 | 33 | $1,817,583 |
| 21 | Utah | $82,802,579 | $35,078,350 | $24,258,427 | $25,775,281 | 51 | $1,623,580 |
| 22 | Houston | $89,076,625 | $65,394,037 | $68,025,860 | $0 | 55 | $1,619,575 |
| 23 | Indiana | $64,855,616 | $47,004,807 | $0 | $0 | 42 | $1,544,181 |
| 24 | Toronto | $77,356,147 | $67,624,301 | $45,357,951 | $27,739,975 | 51 | $1,516,787 |
| 25 | San Antonio | $90,023,910 | $52,445,203 | $21,329,750 | $0 | 61 | $1,475,802 |
| 26 | Atlanta | $62,399,872 | $57,089,888 | $34,769,663 | $15,500,000 | 43 | $1,451,160 |
| 27 | Denver | $55,153,832 | $34,029,519 | $0 | $0 | 40 | $1,378,846 |
| 28 | Boston | $70,468,674 | $37,554,035 | $39,258,048 | $0 | 53 | $1,329,598 |
| 29 | Philadelphia | $35,459,972 | $8,575,916 | $0 | $0 | 28 | $1,266,428 |
| 30 | Golden State | $65,282,124 | $36,458,290 | $18,539,130 | $0 | 67 | $974,360 |
As you can see, Portland is in trouble. The only saving grace for the Blazers is that they have a relatively young team and can expect to improve. The Golden State Warriors by far has the best success to value ratio but our own Philadelphia 76ers come in at second most efficient use of funds.
Related Story: Why A Trade With Portland Makes Sense
The next three teams on the list, Brooklyn, LA Lakers, and Phoenix, all have the draft assets and salary space needed to add talent in ways other than trades and also lack the talent to make an ideal partner. But at fifth is a team trapped in basketball purgatory — the Charlotte Hornets. With $103 million in committed salary for next season, they are over the salary cap. Charlotte needs to either rebuild or clear cap space to add a star.
The primary motivation for Charlotte is to shed salary to pursue Blake Griffin in free agency. Batum and Zeller will combine for $37 Million in next years salary. This makes them an intriguing potential partner.
Charlotte Receives:
Jahlil Okafor
Pick 36, 2017
Philadelphia Receives:
Why Philadelphia Does This Deal
Batum is a long wing player who can defend the SG and Small Forward position. at 6’8″ with a 7’0″ wingspan, he is a long rangy defender who also is a career NBA average 3 point shooter. He has been a fixture as a productive starter for Charlotte but they are over the salary cap and have hit their natural ceiling. Charlotte needs to add talent and sits at 11 in this years NBA Draft.
Related Story: Philadelphia 76ers Financial Times
Zeller makes $12 million in salary but is not a starting quality NBA center. He would be a credible backup to Embiid however.
Why Charlotte Does This Deal
There are three reasons beyond salary that I think Charlotte would be open to adding Jahlil Okafor.
Adding Okafor will return him to a state where he was wildly successful as a freshman at Duke.
Charlotte was comfortable running an offense with
for years. Jefferson averaged 17.5 points and 7 rebounds per game in three years in Charlotte.
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