The Philadelphia 76ers should pursue the Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry.
There are some Philadelphia 76ers‘ fans still feeling the sting of not landing James Harden from the Houston Rockets before he was traded to division rival Brooklyn Nets. However, the Sixers haven’t completely missed out on the opportunity to add another star next to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
There is one All-Star level player the 76ers should be able to trade for without needing to dangle Simmons as a trade piece in order to acquire him. I’m of course referring to six-time All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry.
This isn’t the first time I’ve brought of the idea of trading for Lowry. I’ve done it twice, once on The Sixer Sense Podcast, and then I wrote on Tobias Harris’ trade value this season. Now that Harden is off the table, targeting Lowry is the best move if Philly’s president of basketball operations Daryl Morey wants to keep Embiid and Simmons together.
Why Toronto trades Lowry to the Sixers and what the deal looks like.
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It’s fair to say that Lowry is one of the greatest, if not the greatest point guard in Raptors history. Then the question becomes, why would the Raptors trade him? The answer is simple, they are a bad team right now that needs to consider rebuilding.
The loss of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka has been a bigger blow to the Raptors than most would have suspected and Aron Baynes looks like a shell of himself to begin the season. That has led the Raptors to having a 3-8 record.
Most of their core players are young like Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, so going through a short rebuild should be worth it for the Raptors. Getting some young players in return for Lowry should be an intriguing idea for Toronto’s front office.
The Sixers pursue Lowry for one reason, despite being 34 years old, the point guard still has it. He’s still playing at an All-Star level averaging 18.7 points, 6.0 rebounds,7.2 assists, and 1.2 steals, while converting 37.0 percent of his 3-point attempts.
He can also fit next to Simmons and Embiid seamlessly. He can play on or off the ball. He would also allow Simmons to play more of a Draymond Green role, which is the type of player he appears he’s going to become at this point in his career.
Lowry is also a proven winning and clutch player as he’s helped guide the Raptors to an NBA title as that season was burned into the memories of most Sixers fans as the team was four lucky bounces away from possibly winning it all.
Fans shouldn’t worry too much about the long term with Lowry either. His type of playstyle should age well and despite him being a free agent this offseason, he grew up in Philadelphia so there’s a good chance the franchise can get him to re-sign.
All that being expounded upon below is what a potential trade could look like between the two clubs.
Obviously, Harris has to be in this deal to make the proposed trade work. He’s playing at an All-Star level and his over-bloated contract helps make this deal possible without the 76ers sending four players just for Lowry.
The Raptors need some perimeter defense this season and Matisse Thybulle is the ideal player to fill that void for them. Including Furkan Korkmaz is a necessity in this deal as he still has value and is another sharpshooter that Toronto can add to the mix.
Sending two unprotected first round pick seems like a steep price for an older player in Lowry and spark plug off the bench in Norman Powell. However, not including Shake Milton and/or Tyrese Maxey in this hypothetical deal makes making those picks being unprotected essential in getting Toronto to agree to this.
It should be noted that both Lowry and Powell should be on the trading block according to the opinion of Jake Long of Raptors Rapture.
Lowry would definitely help the Philadelphia 76ers become a legit contender in the East and he’s probably the only All-Star the team can acquire without giving up Simmons. Losing out on Harden is disappointing, but getting Lowry while also keeping Simmons would be a good consolation prize for the Sixers.