Sixers trade deadline prediction: No expensive shooters
The Sixers have limited trade resources. With so much money tied up in Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris, the amount of expendable cap space is negligible, and the tradeable contracts are few and far between. Danny Green (~$15 million) and Mike Scott (~$5 million) have thus received almost all the attention ahead of the upcoming deadline.
With Green and Scott certainly available, the Sixers have enough dough to match contracts on J.J. Redick, Evan Fournier, or a player in that vein. While both make a fair amount of money, the Sixers could feasibly cobble together enough to match contracts and offer draft incentives. If my predictions are to play out, however, Philadelphia will do no such thing.
The Sixers should pray for a Redick buyout. Even in his old age (by basketball standards), there’s no reason to believe Redick couldn’t rekindle some of his magic with Embiid. He would provide an immediate upgrade over Furkan Korkmaz as far as defensively liable shooters go. The Sixers will not, however, trade for Redick.
Inside, I would expect Philadelphia to save its biggest monetary chips for a more sizable move — a move of greater magnitude that will require almost all immediately available resources. Such a move will suck up much of the Sixers’ air space and time this deadline. As a result, I would not expect too many small moves along the margins either.
That move is…