The Philadelphia 76ers have been looking to trade Kelly Oubre Jr. for quite some time already. With the team still having a difficult time coming to terms with restricted free agenct Quentin Grimes on a new deal, dangling away the veteran forward’s expiring contract will be an easy and readily available way to offer more money to the young wing.
So far, the team has not had any traction on a deal involving Oubre. One can only surmise that teams are probably not enthused about the prospect of trading for him at this very juncture. In all likelihood, the front office will have an easier time finding a taker for his services in the middle of the season before the trade deadline, when teams will have a clearer idea as to their roster needs.
Oubre, who has been on a bargain bin deal over the last two years with the 76ers, has become an expendable role player for the franchise. The team is looking forward to Justin Edwards taking on a bigger role next season and Paul George turning in a cleaner bill of health, and the arrival of new faces in Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker only makes it difficult for him to retain his role from a year ago.
But having said that, contrary to what everyone expects from the front office, the 76ers could actually end up not trading Oubre due to a reason people seem to have overlooked.
The 76ers could decide against trading Kelly Oubre due to his improved defense
Part and parcel of what makes a lot of fans itching for Oubre to get traded is the fact that he has become a negative net presence on offense. He is a poor three-point shooter and has very little playmaking sense due to his rather tunnel-ish vision.
However, everyone seems to be forgetting about the strides he has made as a defender. Never really known for being a reliable ball stopper, Oubre grew by leaps and bounds on that end with Philly, maximizing his athleticism and ranginess to be a disruptor within Nick Nurse’s switchy defensive schemes.
Defense remains a weak point for the 76ers heading into the season, and that could be plenty enough for the team to keep holding on to Oubre, at least for the rest of the season.
If so, that would not be the worst idea at all. The 76ers badly need to improve on defense if they want to make a deep playoff run and then some, and Kelly Oubre will definitely help them a lot on that end so long as he remains a consistently reliable defender.