Philadelphia 76ers: Best trade in team history with the Cleveland Cavaliers
The Philadelphia 76ers don’t usually win their trades with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Philadelphia 76ers is like any other team in the NBA, they’ve made good and bad trades throughout their history. While this series of articles is focused on the best trades they’ve made with others, it’s safe to say they’ve never made a good trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Don’t believe it, ask Sixers legend Charles Barkley about how he feels about the trade that sent the first pick in the 1986 pick to the Cavaliers for Roy Hinson. Despite that bad trade, the 76ers continued to make bad or inconsequential deals with Cleveland.
Philly has made a total of 10 trades with the Cavs starting in 1972, with the most recent occurring in 2016. There was only one trade that the 76ers arguably got more value in a deal they made with Cleveland in 2014.
The best trade ever between Philly and Cleveland was…
To be clear, Spencer Hawes was at the peak of his career on the rebuilding Sixers when former general manager Sam Hinkie was able to deal him to Cleveland. At his peak, Hawes was a borderline starting center who was better as a reserve. Considering Hinkie was able to get two future second round picks, along with two fringe players in Earl Clark and Henry Sims isn’t a bad haul for the big man.
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Clark was waived before he ever played a game for the 76ers. Sims became one of the staple players associated with Philly’s rebuild until he left in free agency. The two second round picks turned into Jerami Grant and Vasilije Micic.
Grant was another staple of the Sixers’ rebuild until former executive Bryan Colangelo foolishly traded the young athlete in a win-now move to add a shooting big on the roster in Ersan Ilyasova. Grant when on the Sixers was a raw athlete who showed promise as a defender and has since developed into a respectable offensive player since being traded.
Micic has yet to come over from Europe but has been considering the move recently. If he does decide to come to the NBA, he could be a solid point guard off the bench for the 76ers.
Since leaving Philly, Hawes’ career in the NBA went in a downward spiral and was over in just four seasons at the age of 28. To say that the Sixers got peak value their former starting center is an understatement.
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The Philadelphia 76ers don’t have a great history of trading with the Cavs, but in this case, they were able to come away with some value that could possibly still payoff this upcoming offseason.