The Philadelphia 76ers narrowly lost to the Boston Celtics tonight, but really, any game from here on out until the trade deadline will unlikely have the steam they normally get. After all, the trade engine is rampaging hard as of the moment, and coming off that nuclear Luka-AD trade from last night, this year would definitely be a wildly eventful deadline.
Not to be left behind, three other teams pulled off another blockbuster, multi-team trade, this time involving two All-Star guards in De’Aaron Fox, who now goes to San Antonio to team up with Victor Wembanyama, and Zach LaVine, who heads to Sacramento to reunite with DeMar DeRozan.
Both All-Star or at the very least, All-Star caliber players, both guards have been frequent customers in the rumor mill for quite some time now. The 76ers have not been linked to Fox in any capacity, but they were previously reported to have LaVine on their radar. Now, they miss out on yet another player who could have improved their prospects as a team.
The 76ers were caught sleeping as they miss out on Zach LaVine trade
Chicago finally unloaded LaVine after several desperate attempts to do just that, basically receiving nothing for their All-Star scorer. Had the 76ers known that it would take just chump change to snag him from the Bulls, they should have jumped in on the bidding war for his services.
Instead, the Kings get to savor LaVine, who will now fill a critical role after Fox’s departure. Meanwhile, the 76ers remain an idle part of the crowd, still awaiting for that perfect trade that could very well not come before the deadline given how many teams are being aggressive right now.
Seriously, though, Philly could have forced its way into the LaVine discussion by simply consolidating some of their mid-sized contracts and incentivizing the Bulls mildly with a draft pick. That would have been a reasonable return, although perhaps, the front office was simply banking on Jared McCain returning to 100 percent capacity eventually and them finding someone who can help them out in the backcourt without costing much.
But one counterargument: Zach LaVine did not come expensive at all. The Bulls certainly made good on their promise not to demand much as long as they can dangle the All-Star. Lo and behold, they did.
The Philadelphia 76ers chose to roam on the spectators’ stands, and while they have a good reason to, it is undeniably another missed opportunity.