The Philadelphia 76ers are now officially racing against the clock before the trade deadline. With a just a few days before the big cut-off, the front office should now be doing the prepwork to at least make a move or two — something already expected from a team led up top by Daryl Morey, the league’s bigget star-plucker.
However, things have actually been admittedly slow on that end this time around. Two blockbuster trades have already happened (and one of those is pretty historic even), yet the 76ers seem like they are going nowhere despite being a common sight in the rumor mill.
But in typical 76ers fashion, the worm looks like it should turn soon. After all, Philadelphia has just been looped in a big trade rumor, one that could have massive repercussions on how they approach not only this season, but the foreseeable future as well.
The 76ers should now aggressively try to trade Paul George after this latest rumor
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Warriors recently called the 76ers to gauge the latter’s asking price for Paul George.
This came shortly after Golden State was reportedly out on the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes, which has become tedious and selective. The Warriors seem desperate to land a new star to pair with Stephen Curry and catch up to their steep competition in the Western Conference.
For the 76ers, this is a huge opportunity to undo the George disaster. The front office signed him to a max deal last summer, only for the nine-time All-Star to display clear signs of decline that would easily make his contract age poorly.
It is unknown at this point how much the Warriors would be willing to give up to pusue an aging star like George, but the good thing for the 76ers is that they should be able to get a haul. Golden State will have to match salaries, meaning they would be forced to give up good players in return.
Even granting for the sake of argument that the 76ers fail to strike a deal with the Warriors, they should still actively shop George on the trade market. There are multiple teams out there in need of a floor-raiser for the playoffs, and there is a solid shot that George regains his form playing in another environment where he has better floor-spacers and playmakers around him.
Clearly, this should be the strategy for the Philadelphia 76ers in the coming days. This way, they could truly say that they made the most out of the trade season.