The Philadelphia 76ers trading Jared McCain at the deadline will undoubtedly end up being one of the costliest mistakes the franchise has made in recent years. The sophomore guard is currently playing his heart out for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs. He is lasered in on helping his ball club get back to the Finals, but in doing so and without even actively trying to, he might have backed forced his former team into a corner.
McCain's absence and consequent success has essentially given the 76ers additional pressure as they navigate through the offseason with regard to the status of one of their impending free agents in Quentin Grimes. Now, with their second unit clearly lacking in talent, the front office appears to have little to no choice but to keep the 26-year-old this summer.
As echoed by ESPN's Tim Bontemps, the decision to trade McCain has created considerable pressure for the 76ers to keep one of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Grimes. The latter, however, is the more direct equivalent of the eccentric guard, so the urgency to keep him is arguably stronger on the part of the front office.
The 76ers have little choice but to keep Quentin Grimes after trading Jared McCain
Keeping Grimes in and of itself is not exactly a frightening proposition that should completely throw the 76ers off. After all, despite a rather flat campaign where his production ended up being staler than hoped for (leading to a sharp decline come playoff time), Philly clearly needs someone like him coming off the bench.
It is Grimes' price tag and the possible consequences of keeping him that constitute a situation they are going to be wary of. League executives believe that he is poised to get anywhere close to the midlevel exception, but that price range, when accounting for Oubre's next deal, will firmly catapult the 76ers into the luxury tax zone which they have avoided for years.
Had the 76ers kept McCain, they would have remained in position to make the easy call this summer of parting ways with Grimes and relying on the former to fill the role the latter has been filling in for this group. Instead, the front office has gotten handcuffed into committing to Grimes not only for basketball reasons, but also to save face.
Jared McCain is certainly not thinking of what the 76ers plan on doing this offseason at this very juncture, but without him even trying to screw his former team up, Philly is now on track to veer into a decision they could have avoided in the first place.
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