The Philadelphia 76ers entered the NBA Draft Lottery tonight balanced on the edge of a knife. Land in the Top 6, and they would hold onto a valuable draft pick in a talented draft. Fall back, and that pick would head to the Oklahoma CIty Thunder as a painful exclamation point on a past failure.
That tension has now been resolved, and in a phenomenal way. The Philadelphia 76ers not only held onto their pick, they leapt up to the No. 3 pick. They will have the opportunity to draft a top prospect to add to their team and try to redeem a failed season.
But all is not golden for the 76ers because of a massive mistake years ago.
The Al Horford experience was a disaster
It's possible that fans have forgotten about the details of the Al Horford trade, as it is in the distant rearview mirror. The 76ers have now gone through multiple iterations of building a team around Joel Embiid that have not involved the veteran big, who has played in 70 playoff games since leaving the organization in December of 2020.
Horford came to Philadelphia in free agency a year earlier, signing a lucrative free agent contract to provide size and spacing beside Embiid as well as solving the backup center problem. At least, that was the intent. Somewhat inexplicably, the pairing never worked from the jump.
Horford's individual numbers in Philadelphia look a lot like his statistics from other seasons. He averaged 11.9 points on decent 45 percent shooting and 35 percent from deep; he pulled down 6.8 rebounds per game to go along with four assists. Those are a far cry from his All-Star numbers in past seasons, but fairly in line with late-career Al Horford.
The problem was that Horford and Embiid could not coexist. When Embiid was on the court without Horford, the 76ers outscored opponents by 8.0 points per 100 possessions. Horford without Embiid? +4.4, a totally fine number for a team playing without an MVP candidate. Yet when the two shared the court, the 76ers were outscored by opponents. (all on/off stats per Databallr.com).
It got to the point where the two rarely played together, forcing Horford into a tiny bench role that was in tension with his large salary. Daryl Morey therefore wiped his hands of the mistake immediately, trading Horford and a 2025 top-6 protected first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A year later, Horford was back on the Boston Celtics and playing like an elite role player once again, thriving next to another center at times and making his time in the City of Brotherly Love seem like some sort of fever dream.
The 76ers still owe a bill
While Horford is long gone, the bill is only now coming due. The Sixers now face a gigantic crossroads ahead of them. On the one hand, if Joel Embiid and Paul George can remain healthy next season, their young core of Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and Quentin Grimes could elevate them back into contention.
On the other, this season was a disaster, and Embiid and George have shown little ability to stay consistently healthy. Embiid may never play elite basketball ever again; it's impossible to predict. The organization hopes that this is a one-year blip and that they will be bouncing back into the playoffs next season.
Having a Top 3 pick will help, but the 76ers still owe a first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder -- it will now convey next season with a Top-4 protection. If the 76ers are anything but abysmal next year, they should send the pick to the Thunder.
And it is very possible Al Horford is hoisting a second championship trophy just days before the 76ers make the third overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.