If the season ended today, the Philadelphia 76ers would receive the No. 25 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft from the Thunder (via Houston) as the return for Jared McCain. Of course, star players can be found anywhere in the draft, and the Sixers finding a star in the late first round wouldn't be a shock; Tyrese Maxey was the 21st pick in 2021, after all.
But the team traded Jared McCain — who already was a draft success — for the chance to find another draft success from a worse draft slot. That is completely nonsensical. It's the kind of move that, if things start to fall apart in Philadelphia, can feel like the straw that breaks the camel's back. I think it's fair to say that trading McCain (who is already thriving in Oklahoma City) is the kind of move that can jeopardize Morey's future with the team.
If McCain continues to ball out and the Sixers strike out with the pick they got for him, the deal will look even worse in retrospect. And it looks pretty awful in the present, too.
There was no reason for the 76ers to trade Jared McCain
When Morey claimed the 76ers were "selling high" on McCain, it came with the implication that McCain's stock as a player will eventually fall. But what exactly did McCain do to make Morey believe that? He had some struggles early on this season as he was returning from a torn meniscus, but to even pretend to know what a player's ceiling could be after 60 games is frustratingly bad management.
I am a Daryl Morey defender. I think, overall, he's built good rosters with the 76ers. He doesn't have any control over injury luck — and you certainly can't blame him for lack of activity. He makes moves!
But this trade was, in essence, giving up on a guy who has played less than a full NBA season (and was the leader in the Rookie of the Year race before his injury) for a bad first-round draft pick. I don't care how "crowded" the 76ers backcourt is with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes (who will leave this summer anyway). That doesn't mean it's smart to give away a player on the second year of his rookie deal.
Daryl Morey likely doesn't have many more opportunities to find success in Philadelphia. I never wish for people to lose their jobs, and I don't hope Morey fails. But deciding to make the team worse right now — when he's likely nearing his last chance to build a real contender — didn't make sense at the time, and makes less sense with each passing day.