The Philadelphia 76ers need to seize the opportunity with John Wall’s expected absence and fill out their depth with a trade from the Washington Wizards.
The struggling Washington Wizards have been a surprising story line of the season. Now, it seems to have taken a turn for the worst. According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Wizards star John Wall is planning to have season ending surgery on his left heel. The news regarding Wall may have no direct impact on the Philadelphia 76ers, but it doesn’t mean the franchise shouldn’t take advantage of the situation.
It’s no secret that the Sixers’ have struggled with their depth issues this year, especially after the Jimmy Butler trade. The Wizards were already looking pretty gloomy before this news broke and now with Wall out, there’s really no chance of Washington making a postseason push. While the Wizards are struggling, it’s clear it wasn’t due to the sheer talent on the roster. The team has solid depth, especially on the wing and forward positions.
Those are two areas of concern that Philadelphia could fill if they make the right trade. It should be noted that this isn’t the first time that The Sixer Sense has produced solid trade offers that involves the Wizards. However, the hypothetical trade below is another solid deal for both teams included.
Wilson Chandler has been solid as the team’s starting power forward thus far, but if the Sixers are expecting to win a championship, then trading the veteran might be the best move. Swapping Chandler for Markieff Morris is a clear upgrade offensively. Morris can hold his own defensively on most switches, although not quite as well as Chandler. He could either start at power forward or come off the bench at the same position as well as at center, if the Sixers get him.
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Tomas Satoransky is a playmaking wing, that could be a solid 3-point shooter for the 76ers. He has a career 39.7 percent from downtown. While he’s not a plus defender, he’s be a better offensive option than Furkan Korkmaz at the moment. Korkmaz, like Satoransky, will be a free agent at the end of the season. It’s likely that Philly would be unable to retain either, but with Satoransky’s playmaking ability, he’d be a better bench piece for the Sixers.
Jeff Green is a combo forward that is still versatile enough on both sides of the ball to be dangerous on a playoff team. Green could take Chandler’s current role or come off the bench depending on how head coach Brett Brown wants to tinker with the lineups.
There are several reasons why the Wizards do this trade. With Wall out for the season, its makes sense for Washington to take all steps necessary to tank for a top lottery pick and doing this deal helps towards this. It also gives them a long and close look at Korkmaz, who is a young prospect who might fit into the Wizards long term plans better than with the Sixers.
The other big part of this trade is the two future second picks. The Chicago Bulls pick in 2019 will most likely be in the early second round, which is a very good pick. The Dallas Mavericks 2020 pick may end up being solid as well. That should go a long way in rebuilding for the Wizards regardless if they decide to go full on rebuild moving forward or not.
The Philadelphia 76ers get a major upgrade for the bench without sacrificing too much for the future. They still have multiple second round picks in 2019-2021 even if the hypothetical trade were to occur and the Wizards get some pieces for a potential rebuild moving forward. This hypothetical deal for the Sixers would be an all chips in move for a championship this season.