Can the 76ers win the Caruso sweepstakes, though?
In a war of assets and corporate bootlicking, Philadelphia undoubtedly has what it takes to prompt Chicago into pulling it aside for a winner’s briefer. But let’s be real — the proposed trade assumes that the Bulls are an incompetent collective, and that the 76ers would be able to easily pull off a quick heist.
Frankly, Alex Caruso’s on-paper equivalent in a trade is probably a first-round pick, but sweepstakes almost never operate off of the tenor of surface values. There is a pretty high demand for Caruso’s services, and there were already a lot of chatters about teams being willing to pay above market value to secure him.
The veteran guard’s skill set is not only in-demand; it’s also pretty moldable and easy to integrate on any configuration. Teams, especially those under win-now mandates, would undoubtedly try to get into the bidding war for an elite role player like Caruso who has already shown championship mettle.
Thus, while the 76ers can definitely win the Alex Caruso sweepstakes, the proposed offer from their side is extremely unlikely to become the winning bid. Philadelphia will have to come up with a more appealing offer in a hypothetical scenario to lure Chicago into dishing out a sweet “yes”.