Philadelphia 76ers: Shake Milton trade talks are beyond premature

While the idea of landing James Harden is beyond enticing, the Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t be too eager to trade away Shake Milton just yet.

If a year ago today, you told me the Philadelphia 76ers could trade Shake Milton, even in a package featuring, like, a million first-round picks and a pair of young players (Matisse Thybulle and Tyrese Maxey) for James Harden, I’d tell you you were crazy.

Sure, the Sixers had just traded a pair of average starters – Robert Covington and Dario Saric – to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jimmy Freakin’ Butler the year prior, but that was a very specific case. Harden at the time was just entering the first year of his four-year, $171 million deal, and even if he declined his player option for 2022-23 and therefore would have a ton of trouble strong-arming the then-Daryl Morey-led Houston Rockets into doing pretty much anything.

How would the Sixers even afford it? Would they really trade away their $180 million man, Tobias Harris, or the crown jewel of their free agency haul, Al Horford?

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Boy oh boy, what a difference a year can make.

Since then, the Sixers have stolen Morey away from the Rockets, replaced Brett Brown with Doc Rivers, and Milton has magically transformed himself from a player explicitly told he’d be out of the rotation moving forward into a player who dropped 39 points on the Clippers and looked like a breakout star. Even though the hype surrounding Milton subsided some due to a poor showing in the playoffs and, ya know, four months off due to a league-wide shutdown, there are still plenty of reasons to be excited about ‘Miltonmania’.

But don’t just take my word for it; let’s see what Doc Rivers had to say on the subject in a recent media availability session,

"“Shake can be a starter or a sixth man,” Rivers said shaking his head. “Shake is going to be a heck of a basketball player. He really is, you can just see it all over him. So with him and Furkan (Korkmaz), with that type of firepower that you can use off the bench, man, that’s going to make us pretty good.”"

A heck of a basketball player. I kinda like the sound of that.

While, of course, coaches are going to speak glowingly about their players during training camp, especially in their first season with a new team, Rivers has specifically been high on Milton seemingly since that fateful February day at Staples. Austin’s dad has seen just how hot the former second-round pick can get from beyond the arc and knows that with a bit more polish and an ‘aggressive’ mindset, he could easily become one of the league’s brightest young guards.

Theoretically, that’s the kind of player the Rockets would love to acquire for a few more years of James Harden – which is why the Sixers shouldn’t be too quick to part with the Shakester; not before he gets a chance to test his mettle in Rivers’ scheme, at least.

Remember last February post-Ben Simmons‘ back injury but before Joel Embiid returned from his own injury? That team was bad, unfun to watch, and featured basically nothing even the most generous fan could call a ‘high-upside developmental star’ save for maybe Thybulle, who looks more like a one-way specialist than a true 3-and-D All-Star. The team now has three young guards coming off the bench who are all under 25 in Milton, Thybulle, and Maxey, with the potential for any three to keep getting better before they reach their NBA primes. Why would the team want to give that up, alongside Tobias Harris, and picks, for a 31-year-old who was just eviscerated by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon for his entitled ways?

Remember what Sam Hinkie said earlier this year about trading either Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons, ‘Don’t people remember what it took to get them?’

Now I’m not suggesting that Milton is or should be in the same untouchable camp as legitimate All-Stars like Embiid and Simmons, because he’s not. If Rivers and Morey genuinely believe that Milton is expendable then, by all means, ship him out of town. The NBA is a star-driven league after all, and a Big 3 of Embiid, Harden, and Simmons would instantly put the team in the upper echelon of legitimate NBA contenders. But again, is it worth it? It took Harden four years to average 20-plus points over a full season and eight years to become a 30 point scorer on the reg.

It took Harden 219 games to drop 30 points in a game, whereas Milton accomplished the feat in only 48. I’m not even close to suggesting that Milton’s ceiling is anywhere near as high as that of Toli’s number one endorsee, but there’s certainly something there worth watching.

Assuming Harden hasn’t completely worn out his welcome in Houston and the Sixers can pull a Butler 2.0 to land the former league MVP for pennies on the dollar, it may be wise to simply wait things out and see how the season develops, if for no other reason than to see how the team’s young players assimilate themselves into the NBA ranks.

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Look, between you and me, I don’t really know why this is even a conversation. Milton has been an internal darling in camp, is signed to one of the best contracts in the NBA, and played insanely well in the Philadelphia 76ers’ first preseason game. But when you scour the ‘Philadelphia 76ers’ Google results and find multiple articles suggesting that Shake Milton might be the keep to a James Harden trade, it kind of has to be addressed, right? Could the Sixers trade Shake Milton in a package for Harden? At this point, they all but surely would have to in order to get a deal done, but why do so now? Harden isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and honestly, neither should Milton; not until the Sixers know how he fits in ~~Brett Brown~~ Doc Rivers’ system.