Nerlens Noel: Top 10 Sixers busts since 2000
In 2013, Jrue Holiday became an All-Star for the 76ers. That same year, he was traded to New Orleans in exchange for Nerlens Noel. Holiday would go on to win a championship with Milwaukee and make the NBA All-Defensive Team five times. Noel? Let’s just say he never became effective at his position, and it all started in Philadelphia.
The Kentucky forward did have promise entering the NBA. A defensive specialist with length and rim-protecting instincts at the collegiate level, Noel was brought in right before Philly drafted Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor.
To make matters worse, Noel did not even play his first season. Due to injury, his career hit an early speed bump. Any subsequent hiccups in his career came at the expense of his own poor attitude and bad decisions.
As documented in Yaron Weitzman’s book, Tanking to Top, Noel was not maturing the way the Sixers front office had hoped. Incidents that included drug use and tardiness would soil his reputation and add dysfunction to an already fractured franchise during the early “Process Years.”
In a Sixers uniform, Noel averaged 10.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks. Since leaving Philly, he’s played for five teams, and his value has plummeted. He may be more well known for his unwise choice to decline a lucrative long-term contract than his actual career.
Noel’s presence in Philly essentially launched the era that Sam Hinkie has been revered for, depending on who you talk to in the fan base. His lack of production and longevity as a Sixer simply adds to the list of busts in the past few decades.