5. Nerlens Noel
Yes, seriously.
Noel is the poster boy for ‘shouldn’t have listened to my agent’. After being traded from the Sixers to the Dallas Mavericks, he showed enough promise to be offered a $70 million contract at the end of the 2017 season.
His agent said it had to be a max deal or nothing, Dallas owner Mark Cuban, no dope, said, OK, nothing.
Noel then had a trouble-strewn final season with Dallas. First he got in hot water over a halftime hot dog, and then got suspended for reportedly not laying off the weed.
After all of that, Noel ended up signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder for a lot less than the max or even $70 million. The league minimum? Yeah, he is quite close to that.
A Nerlens Noel who came cheap would have been a nice pickup for the Sixers.
They would be getting an athletic young big who is better defensively than any forward or center currently on the roster except Embiid. He already knows the system from his previous stay in Philly, is good friends with Embiid and familiar with most of the other players and the town.
He would also be coming in with a chip on his shoulder, as being paid $68 million less than originally offered does that to people. Noel will be looking to prove himself, and no better way then to help the Sixers go far in the playoffs. He is only 24-years-old, so this would be far from his final contract.
Right now, the Sixers have no rim protector outside of Embiid. And while he survived his first full season in good shape, you never know about Embiid’s availability.
If he does have to miss some time, would you rather have Amir Johnson or Nerlens Noel as your starting center on a team with NBA finals ambitions?