Sixers: One potential trade with each Southwest Division team
The Philadelphia 76ers could pull-off some reunions by trading with the Southwest Division.
According to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, the Philadelphia 76ers could be open to trades depending on who becomes their next head coach. With that in mind, it only seems fit to continue this series of articles covering hypothetical trades with each team in a particular division.
Thus far, the Pacific and Northwest Divisions have been covered thus far so focusing on the Southwest Division in this article would certainly be appropriate.
One potential trade with each Southwest team: Dallas Mavericks
Like with the Phoenix Suns in the Pacific Division, the Dallas Mavericks are an exciting up-and-coming team with a dynamic duo of Luka Doncic and Kristops Porzingis. Doncic is already an MVP level player and Porzingis one of the top big men in the NBA.
Despite making a playoff appearance this year, the Mavericks are still a piece or two away. Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, and Seth Curry are great complementary players to Doncic and Porzingas but they aren’t legit third options. That is what the Mavericks need and Philly has a player that could provide that.
When I was brainstorming this trade I had originally thought about having Al Horford be the centerpiece of this deal for the Sixers. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve written about Horford landing in Dallas. However, with Porzingis shifting to center in the latter portion of this past regular season, it would make sense for the Mavs to focus on the power forward position.
Keeping that in mind, Harris would thrive in head coach Rick Carlise’s system in Dallas. He’d get to play his natural position at power forward and he’s a legit third option. Getting a mid-second round pick is a nice sweetener to this trade.
Philly gets two quality role players that fit the team’s needs much better. Hardaway averaged 15.8 points on 39.8 percent of his 7.2 3-point attempts per game this past season. Hardaway would become one of the best sharpshooters the Sixers would have on the roster if this hypothetical trade were to occur.
Delon Wright is a proven backup point guard. This year, he averaged 6.9 points, 3.3 assists, and 1.2 steals, while converting a 37.0 percent from downtown (the second-highest percentage of his career). For his career, Wright is a very good defender at the point guard position, which should interest whoever is the next head coach of the 76ers.