The Philadelphia 76ers were dreading it, but the reality is that Jared McCain is already proving they made a big mistake when they traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder last month.
Not only has McCain been fantastic for Oklahoma City (right at a time when the 76ers could use a guy like him due to the injuries they are dealing with), but this trade single-handedly made the reigning champions even stronger. And that should terrify the rest of the league.
Through 14 games with the Thunder, the Duke alum has averaged 11.8 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 47.5% from the field and 43.3% from beyond the arc. He has been exceptional in Oklahoma City and has become a legitimate asset to the team off the bench.
In a recent episode of the "Game Theory" podcast, Bryce Simon spoke about how well this trade is already aging for the Thunder and how much of an impact McCain has made on the team.
"I think my take on that trade was, I didn't think it would make much of an impact for the Thunder this year, but it was a great move moving forward as that team may have to move on from players. And, obviously, that's just flat-out been wrong, Sam," Simon said about the Jared McCain trade.
"I mean, not only has he been good, he's played real minutes for this team. 13 games,19 minutes a night, averaging almost 12 points. If you just go based off who's played for them this year, he's the fifth-leading scorer in points per game for this team."
The 76ers should regret trading Jared McCain
In theory, trading McCain away was somewhat understandable.
He was having a horrible second season in the league (though this is mostly because of the plethora of injuries he was dealing with), and it was going to be incredibly difficult for him to carve out a long-term role with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes manning the backcourt.
Plus, this trade did give the 76ers some draft capital, including the Houston Rockets' first-round pick in this year's draft and a handful of future second-round picks.
However, this trade was very risky at the time, and it is not looking like it will age well for Philadelphia.
McCain had a fantastic rookie season last year and looked like he could be a legitimate contributor for years to come. In 23 games (including just eight starts), he averaged 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists while shooting 46% from the field and 38% from deep.
And if his season wasn't cut so short because of a torn meniscus, there's a real chance he would be the reigning Rookie of the Year (for what it's worth, he still finished seventh in voting).
Sure, it was a small sample size, but McCain showed a lot of promise in Philadelphia last year, and it seems pretty obvious that the team gave up on him way too soon. Now, they are seeing another team turn their trash into treasure (a team that certainly didn't need this boost, by the way), while they are stuck in limbo, hoping to just stay afloat for the rest of the season.