How the heck did the Philadelphia 76ers not trade for T.J. Warren?

How is T.J. Warren not a member of the Philadelphia 76ers?

The Philadelphia 76ers made a massive mistake right from the jump of the 2019-20 NBA season.

No, I’m not talking extending Tobias Harris over Jimmy Butler, trading Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat for Josh Richardson, or even signing Al Horford to a now-laughable four-year contract – though those could also be considered mistakes depending on personal preference – I’m talking about the team’s now woefully inexcusable decision to not trade for then-Phoenix Suns combo forward T.J. Warren.

Didn’t see that one coming? How? It’s right in the headline.

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When the 2019-20 NBA season opened up, the Pheonix Suns were in a weird spot. They had an alright-ish collection of young, ascending players under contract in Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Kelly Oubre, and should-be-a-Sixer Mikal Bridges and a new coach in ex-Sixers assistant coach Monty Williams – but the team’s new GM James Jones wanted more: He wanted to go big game hunting.

Like the Sixers back in 2017, Jones believed that his young core of players were ready to take a massive step forward after showing some encouraging signs of development the previous season and planned to do everything in his power to free up the money needed to offer one of the summer’s premier free agents a max contract deal they couldn’t refuse (spoiler alert: they did refuse it).

But there was a problem. Despite being a 19 win team in 2018-19, the Suns had $61 million tied up in guaranteed money to only seven players and even if they renounced the Birds Rights on Richaun Holmes (they did) and opted against extending Kelly Oubre Jr. (they ultimately gave him a two-year, $30 million extension) the team would still only have $31.5 million to play with going into free agency.

Needless to say, the Suns had to get creative to free up money, and they did just that by making a trio of draft-day moves, to, um move around the board, accrue assets, and ultimately shave some money off their books.

First – not chronologically mind you but in order of importance – the Suns decided to trade away the sixth overall pick (Jarrett Culver) to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 11th overall pick (Cam Johnson) and out old pal Dario Saric, who has been relegated to a role player, um, role in Phoenix. This move is a real head-scratcher, as Johnson is nowhere as good as Culver – and the Suns really needed a point guard – but when you consider the team also saved $3.6 million over the next two years by moving down five spots, it kinda sorta makes sense (… but not really).

Later in the draft, the Suns shipped a 2020 first-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Aron Baynes and Ty Jerome – who funny enough, was initially drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers before being moved in the Matisse Thybulle trade. This move was relatively counter-productive, as it added $7.6 million to their cap in 2019-20, but the team got a very useful stretch center to pair up with Ayton and a (kind of) point guard to pair with Booker, so it made sense. The Suns flipped Josh Jackson, De’Anthony Melton, and two second-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies for Javon Carter and an eventually-waived Kyle Korver so that monetarily speaking, it sorta made sense.

But the most head-scratching-yist of all head-scratching moves Johnson and the Suns pulled off on draft day was trading T.J. Warren to the Indiana Pacers for the 32nd overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Wait, that’s not right. The Suns actually traded Warren AND the 32nd overall pick to the Pacer for… nothing. It was a salary dump for future ‘cash considerations’.

Warren, the team’s starting small forward from 2016-19, had just finished up their first year of a four-year, $50 million deal and was the easiest piece to move in a potential trade. His 18 points per game ranked second on the team, his 42.8 3 point shooting percentage ranked first, and even though he was considered a less-than-formidable defender, I imagine the Pacers ran their proverbial card to the transaction wire to get a deal done.

Since then, Warren has developed into an above-average switch-forward defender for the Pacers, has diversified his shot selection across the offensive side of the ball, and maintained his 18 ppg average for the third straight season.

And frankly, the fact that he’s a Pacer and not a Sixer is borderline laughable.

Warren’s 2019-20 step forward aside, how on earth could Elton Brand allow a conference rival, a team they are directly competing with for a playoff spot, to add a combo forward who could theoretically find a place in any offense in the NBA, when they had not one, not two, but four second-round picks to play with? Now sure, the Sixers used one of them, the 33rd overall pick to trade up for Thybulle, the 42nd overall pick to trade away Jonathon Simmons, and the 54th overall pick to select G-League should-be MVP Marial Shayok, but what about the 34th overall pick? The Sixers literally traded that pick (used on Bruno Fernando) for future second-round picks we may not collectively live to see.

What the heck? The Sixers could have literally outbid the Pacers with an actaul pick and still added an 18 point per game scorer for under $12 million in 2019-20.

Had the Sixers smartened up and viewed Warren as the ideal fifth-to-sixth man who provided a perfect insurance plan regardless of how free agency turned out, they could have entered the negotiation window with way more leverage and an ability to build the best long-term contender with a 26-year-old swing forward in their back pocket.

Sure beats a 33-year-old center tasked with playing power forward for the first time since 2007, right?

With Warren in the fray as a 3-4 combo guard, the Sixers could have re-signed J.J. Redick via Early Bird-Rights to another one-year deal in the $15 million range and it still would have cost less than signing Al Horford and Mike Scott in free agency. That would have given the Sixers four viable starters with enough money to sign either Butler or Harris as their fifth starter.

And wait, it gets even better.

Assuming the Butler still wanted to leave the City of Brotherly Love for Miami, the Sixers could have executed a sign-and-trade for Josh Richardson or instead targeted a player like Justise Winslow, Tyler Herro, or Duncan Robinson; really whomever Brand felt fit their new-look but still big roster. It would have been a tad harder to pull off had the Sixers specifically targeted a cheaper player like Robinson, but with Butler and Miami so whole-heartedly intent on pairing up that fall, I imagine Pat Riley would have found a way to get a deal done.

But hey, at least the Suns made out well in the deal, right? What? Their big free agency addition was Ricky Rubio, not D’Angelo Russell? Ugh, this deal may go down as an all timer for the Pacers.

Sigh.

Next. Ben Simmons and Shake Milton can save the season. dark

So, in theory, the Philadelphia 76ers could have started the 2019-20 season with a starting five of Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick, T.J. Warren, Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid with Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and Norvel Pelle coming off the bench but instead opted to go all-in on Al Horford. My heart, how the heck did Elton Brand mess that one up?