The Philadelphia 76ers very well could create a super team if they can make a trade for a superstar that has recently become available.
It’s about a week before the NBA trade deadline and it seems only appropriate that Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN drops one of his famous Woj bombs. The following Woj Bombs may not have a direct connection to the Philadelphia 76ers, but it does pertain to superstar Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Agent Rich Paul has notified the New Orleans Pelicans that All-NBA forward Anthony Davis has no intention of signing a contract extension if and when presented and that he has requested a trade, Paul told ESPN on Monday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 28, 2019
The news doesn’t come as too much of a surprise considering that for the most part, the Pelicans have failed to surround Davis with enough talent to compete in a loaded Western Conference. Minus when the Pels had Davis paired along side DeMarcus Cousins, Davis never had a legit second star to play next to.
Surely there’s going to be plenty of suitors for the All-Star big man’s services. Outside of the Boston Celtics, the Pels can start trade negotiations immediately. The Celtics have the assets to trade for Davis now, but due to the Designated Rookie Extension in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Davis and Kyrie Irving can’t be on the same roster this season. Now Davis doesn’t want to join any team, according to Wojnarwoski per Davis’ agent Rich Paul.
Rich Paul to ESPN on a preferred destination for Anthony Davis: "Anthony wants to be traded to a team that allows him the chance to win consistently and compete for a championship."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 28, 2019
One team that has a short and long term window for competing for a championship would be the Sixers. In the past, I wrote multiple times about acquiring Davis, but those deals had former 76ers player Dario Saric, so below is a new hypothetical trade proposal to trade for the Pels big man.
The biggest incentive of this hypothetical deal for the Pelicans are the plethora of draft picks. Getting first round picks in 2019 via Philly and 2021 via the Miami Heat are solid pickups. While the Sixers first rounder this upcoming draft isn’t super valuable, the Miami Heat’s pick has plenty of value. There’s also value for the Pels when it comes to getting the Dallas Mavericks second round pick in 2020 and the Sixers 2022 second round pick.
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Acquiring Wilson Chandler is for salary cap purposes, who will be a free agent after this season. Justin Patton is getting close to being healthy and if he can stay healthy, then he has the potential to be a good role player. Markelle Fultz‘s stock has taken a hit with all the issues he’s experienced thus far in his career, but he’s rehabbing to fix his thoracic outlet syndrome condition and if he can come close to what he was in college, then the Pels will have a core player for the future.
Ian Clark is a solid 3-point point shooter for his career and the Sixers will need all the 3-point shooters moving forward if the hypothetical trade were to occur. The main reason Clark is even included in the trade is to make sure that the Sixers have able bodied shooters on the roster.
In the past, I wrote about the potential that Joel Embiid and Davis could have together on both defense and offensive. Another aspect to consider is that if the Sixers execute this proposed trade above, they will always have at least one if not two All-Star level players on the court at all times. Adding another superstar will help cover up the depth chart problems they currently have.
J.J. Redick and Embiid have strong chemistry already on offense, so adding Davis will allow the Sixers to run a multitude of offenses that run through bigs. They could run a pick-and-role with Davis and Jimmy Butler or substitute Ben Simmons for Butler and then run a pick-and-pop.
Having a core of Embiid, Simmons, Butler and Davis would make the Philadelphia 76ers an instant contender in the Eastern Conference and could rival the Golden State Warriors in pure talent. If the Sixers front office can convince the Pelicans top brass to take a deal similar to the one above, then Philly needs to pull the trigger to acquire Davis.