Philadelphia 76ers: Would you trade Markelle Fultz for Kemba Walker?

With Kemba Walker on the trade block, should the Philadelphia 76ers expedite the process, trade Markelle Fults and make a run at the playoffs? Let us know!

When ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that the Charlotte Hornets are actively looking to trade Kemba Walker to initiate a ground-up rebuild after starting the 2017-2018 NBA season 18-25, it sent shockwaves through the NBA.

Many fans, pundits, and casual observers alike speculated as to why the team would be so willing to move on from the face of their franchise and where the 2017 NBA All-Star would finish out the 2017-2018 NBA season.

While teams like Cleveland, New York, San Antonio and strangely Houston all came up as possible landing spots, one team that very few people have tried to connect Walker to is the Philadelphia 76ers, which is strange, because they may actually be the team that could most use the former Uconn Huskie‘s services, and actually have the assets to acquire him.

According to Woj, the Hornets want to acquire either a young, talented prospect with upside or a high profile draft pick, while also purging themselves of a long-term cap commitment. Now you tell me, what teams in the NBA have a plethora of future draft selections, a number of young, highly toted former lottery picks and the second most cap space in the entire league?

That’s right, the Sixers.

But whom, or what would Bryan Colangelo have to give up to acquire Walker?

While there are a variety of different packages that the team could offer to entice the Hornets to move on from Walker, one that both fits their qualifications and would be incredibly hard to pass up would be a package centered around the top selection in the 2017 NBA Draft Markelle Fultz.

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In Fultz, the 76ers leveraged a prized future asset, either the Lakers‘ 2018 first round pick or the Kings‘ 2019 first round pick, to acquire a player that they believed could play alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons for the next decade, and develop into a three-level scorer, but so far he hasn’t quite lived up to those lofty expectations.

After playing fairly well in the Summer League, Fultz suffered a shoulder injury that all but destroyed his shot, and limited the former Washington Huskie to only four games of action so far this season.

Though Fultz is now healthy enough to return to practice, he continues to be held out of games as he struggles to refind his shot, a task that’s appearing to be a lot harder than many had hoped. Though Fultz could return before the end of the season and show glimpses of a player worthy of two first-round picks, it’s becoming less and less likely that Fultz will become the next James Harden, a tough pill to swallow for many of the Philly faithful.

So why don’t the 76ers expedite the process, and mitigate their risk by shipping Fultz south in exchange for a proven commodity?

After being selected ninth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, Walker has quickly, and quietly developed into one of the leagues best point guards, averaging over 18 points, five assists and three rebounds a game over the last seven seasons. Though he only shoots an average 35 percent from three-point range on roughly five shot a game, Walker is now what the Sixer hope Fultz could become, in an albeit slightly smaller package.

Though Walker stands only 6-foot-1, a good three inches shorter than Fultz, he plays like a shooting guard in a point guards body, ranked the fifth best offensive point guard in the entire league by ESPN’s Real Plus Minus. Possessing an Allen Iverson-esque handle and a deceptively high passing IQ, Walker’s an absolute beast on the offensive side of the ball and could become a perfect complementary scorer to Embiid and Simmons on the outside.

In addition to his on-court efficiency, Walker’s contract is also incredibly team friendly, especially when you consider just how productive he’s been over the last six seasons.

After the culmination of his rookie contract, Walker signed a four-year, $48 million contract to remain with Michael Jordan‘s squad. Though many at the time assumed that Walker gave the Hornets a hometown discount when he initially signed back in 2015, his contract now looks like highway robbery after the NBA’s salary cap ballooned to astronomical proportions the following offseason.

With players like Allen Crabbe, DeMarre Carroll and former Sixers bust Evan Turner signing four-year contracts for over $60 million the following offseason, Walker’s $12 million a year contract is one of the best values in the league.

And the best part? Walker is just entering his prime.

After spending the entirety of his NBA career as the Hornets’ primary, and at times only true scoring threat, inserting Walker onto a roster with proven scorers like J.J. Redick, Embiid, Simmons, Dario Saric and Robert Covington could allow Walker to force fewer shots, and become an even more lethal shooter from all three levels.

While he isn’t quite as flexible as Fultz, who has the size to play both point and shooting guard, being able to add almost 20 extra points a night in exchange for a player who’s only scored 24 points this season could be too good to pass up.

But if the Philly wants to add Walker, it likely won’t be a straight one-for-one swap.

In Woj’s article, the NBA’s greatest insider describes how the team would likely try to package one of their own less than desirable contracts with Walker’s value deal to help free up their cap space and make the small market franchise more profitable.

Though the Sixers do have plentiful cap space, they likely want to keep their future cap space flexible to pursue free agents in 2018 and to eventually pay impending free agents like Saric, Simmons and T.J. McConnell.

Of the four players highlighted in WOJ’s article, Nicolas Batum, Dwight Howard, Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, only Kidd-Gilchrist really fits that bill.

Kidd-Gilchrist, who was actually born in the City of Brotherly Love back in 1993 and played his high school ball at St. Patricks in New Jersey, is one of the league’s best wing defender, but unfortunately for the Hornets, is also one of the league’s worst shooters.

Though Kidd-Gilchrist is averaging a career-high 10.3 points per game for Charlotte this season, he’s a Ben Simmons-esque shooter without the Aussie’s handle and has only taken 36 three-point shots over his six-year NBA career.

And he’s only made seven, good for a ghastly 19.6 percent efficiency. Ouch.

While those numbers likely won’t make MKG an All-Star anytime soon, he does present a fair bit of value on the defensive side of the court and could provide the Sixers with a nice, 6-foot-7 defensive chess piece who could help to shut down opposing wingers either alongside defensive ace Robert Covington or as his foil.

With two and a half seasons left on a four-year, $52 million deal he signed in 2016, the 24-year-old Kidd-Gilchrist could develop into a solid rotational player while playing for his hometown team, and have his contract off the books in time for Simmons’ impending 2021 free agency.

Because of the NBA’s salary cap rules, Philadelphia would likely have to attach a pair of inflated, short-term contracts to make a deal work, but if the team can add a supremely talented offensive combo guard, and an agile wing defender, would anyone really miss a player like Jerryd Bayless, Trevor Booker or Amir Johnson?

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— Matty Breisch (@MattyBreisch) January 21, 2018

Though giving up on Fultz after less than a season is incredibly risky, and could become a move that haunts fans for the foreseeable future if he can develop into a star in Charlotte, acquiring Walker would vault the 76ers into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference and could give Brett Brown a wily veteran who can seemingly score at will.

Though I personally wouldn’t make the swap, what would you do? Would you keep Fultz and risk him never developing into a true star, or would you cut your losses and make a serious push at the playoffs with Kemba Walker running point in a starting five alongside Simmons, Redick, Covington, and Embiid?

Next: Philadelphia 76ers: Should the Sixers be buyers in the Magic’s fire sale?

Let us know in the comments below!