Philadelphia 76ers: 3 trades we wish were April Fool’s Day jokes

Trading away Charles Barkley

Between the Julius Erving era and the Allen Iverson era, there was the Charles Barkley era. Barkley is one of the best powers forwards in NBA history and is one of the best players to ever play for the Sixers. Yet, when it was time to move on from him, the team failed to get anything close to his value.

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To be fair to the 76ers, according to former general manager Pat Williams, Barkley wanted to be traded and wasn’t being a good teammate. Despite that, Philly could have gotten more for the Hall-of-Famer. Williams felt bad about the trade and didn’t feel like it was a good deal, which he isn’t wrong.

Barkley was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang. That’s right, the Sixers didn’t get any draft picks in the trade. Hornacek was named an All-Star the season before the deal, but that was the only time he got that honor in his career.

None of the players received in the trade lasted too long with Philly either. Hornacek was traded to the Utah Jazz after a season and a half. After one season, the Sixers released Lang. Perry lasted three seasons with the 76ers before getting traded to the New Jersy Nets.

It’s clear that the Sixers didn’t get fair compensation for their superstar power forward. If they weren’t going to get a perennial All-Star in the trade, they should have gotten draft picks, but neither happened.

Each of these trades made by the Philadelphia 76ers were so laughable it made them look like fools. Hopefully, another trade like these don’t happen anymore in the future. Happy April Fool’s day everyone!