The Philadelphia 76ers continue to draw significant flak for their decision to trade Jared McCain before the trade deadline — and rightfully so. After all, the team is currently helpless off the bench since shipping him to OKC, while the defending champions are already steadily reaping the rewards of the low-risk gambit they made.
As if that is not enough reason to castigate the 76ers, their patent mistake only gets even worse when you take into account what they had planned after discarding him. Apparently, Daryl Morey did that move to the effect that he can mount a trade offer for Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard, which is a massive reach that should not have anchored the idea of trading McCain in the first place.
Put simply, the 76ers team president was on his head. Adjudged through precedents, he was likely laser-focused on trying to acquire an elite talent like Leonard that it clouded his judgment and warped his vision on McCain, who showed tremendous promise in his rookie year. Now, they can only stare at their blank notes as in reality, nothing unfolded.
76ers trade mistake gets even worse as wild Kawhi Leonard trade rumor emerges
If there is one unwritten rule that can be hatched from trade conventions in the NBA, it is that teams should never dangle away promising young players for the unguaranteed prospect of landing a superstar who is playing at an All-NBA level. After all, those young players actually make sense to keep 100 percent of the time, and those superstars also make sense to keep 100 percent of the time.
If their unrealistic escapade for Kawhi is indeed factual, Morey and his cohorts deserve to get roasted even more than they currently are. There is simply no acceptable reason to justify an anticipatory trade, especially since the one they have cultured on their heads does not even have the remote possibility of coming to fruition.
It simply appears that the 76ers were shooting for the stars aimlessly. In 76,000 universes, 75,999 front offices will not even think of doing the trade they made. Now, they just rid themselves of someone who would have bolstered their present and future for an unhinged daydream.
Jared McCain is thriving, and the 76ers can do nothing but to think of the what-ifs. The fact that this is the prevailing sentiment in NBA circles this early perfectly shows how profoundly terrible that trade is.
This Kawhi Leonard rumor, if anything, only adds fuel to the fire.