The best trade between the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets happened in the 1970s.
After a brief break, this series of articles covering the best trades between the Philadelphia 76ers and every other team continues with the Denver Nuggets. While the Sixers and Nuggets have had some high profile trades in the past one, in particular, led to Philly winning an NBA title.
The two franchises have made a total of nine trades so fair and with some memorable ones too. The 76ers shipped Allen Iverson to Denver. There was also the Andrew Bynum trade that involved the Sixers, Nuggets, Orlando Magic, and Los Angeles Lakers.
However, none of those trades is the best one that Philly made with Denver. The best trade that 76ers made with the was made in 1978.
The best trade ever between Philly and Dallas was…
While Hall of Famer George McGinnis was a better scorer in this deal, but Bobby Jones was the key piece for the Sixers to acquire. He was part of the core that won Philly a title in 1983 and was a defensive anchor as Sixth Man of the Year for the 76ers that year.
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Jones is also a Hall of Famer and as a member of the Sixers, he was named an All-Star twice and made an All-Defensive team seven times. Despite the great scorer that McGinnis was, he couldn’t replicate the type of defense that helped Philly win a title.
Ralph Sampson was near the end of his career when this trade went down and only played two more seasons after the deal. He was traded during the 1978-79 season to the New Jersey Nets and was waived during the following season, which effectively ended his career.
The 1984 first round pick became Leon Wood who was a bust as the 10th overall pick, so he didn’t do much for Philly and the 1978 first round pick Philly sent Denver was Mike Evans, who was a journeyman for his career.
Trading one future Hall of Famer for another future Hall of Famer worked out well for the Philadelphia 76ers back in 1978.