Philadelphia 76ers Ten Biggest Mistakes of the Last Ten Years
By Will Kofron
10. Trading up for Anejs Pasecniks
In 2017, the Sixers appeared to have an incredibly bright future, so bright in fact, that it was rumored pre-draft that the team would look for a player they could stash overseas because of the depth of the team. As a result, Bryan Colangelo decided that it would be a brilliant idea to trade a 2020 first-round pick along with a 2020 second-round pick to the Orlando Magic for the 25th pick in the 2017 NBA draft. With that pick, the Sixers selected Anejs Pasecniks, a center from Latvia who was not ready for the NBA.
Meanwhile, these three players were selected in the following five picks: Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White, and Josh Hart. Those players would have been incredibly valuable to the team to this day, while Pasecniks never suited up for the Sixers and quickly flamed out of the league after a short tenure with the Wizards.
Not only could that trio have changed the trajectory of the franchise, but the 2020 first-round pick the Sixers gave up became Tyrese Maxey. Of course, they were able to re-acquire the pick through the Markelle Fultz trade, but it was still a careless decision by the front office.
They also could have traded up to select O.G. Anunoby.
They were so concerned about consolidating assets and the current roster being too deep that they intentionally selected an inferior player to stash. If they were so concerned with roster spots, why not hold onto the future pick?
The idea that the team was too deep ended up being laughable by the time the season rolled around too with players like Jerryd Bayless, Amir Johnson, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Jahlil Okafor, Justin Anderson, and Nik Stauskas being some of those players Colangelo deemed to be too good to discard of.
The Colangelo era was riddled with unforced errors, and this may have been the most unnecessary. While not the most detrimental in the end, it is the myriad of mistakes like this that led the Sixers into being in the position they are currently in. Kuzma, White, or Hart would be the third-best player on the team now.