Philadelphia 76ers: Which players are truly untouchable via trade?

If the Philadelphia 76ers don’t make a trade before the February 10th deadline, I think more than a few fans might legally go crazy.

From the team’s noted need for a veteran floor general to the roster’s lack of a big wing who can contribute at either end of the court, the Sixers really should be active around the deadline to help bolster their early-season on-court needs.

… oh yeah, and the team still needs to trade Ben Simmons too, how could anyone forget about that?

So, with anywhere from one to a half-dozen players potentially on the move over the next 40-ish days, which players on the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster are truly untouchable? Let’s attempt to find out.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ roster isn’t as locked-in as you might think.

Of the 17 players on the Philadelphia 76ers roster right now, only one player is truly untouchable: Joel Embiid.

Now sure, by his own admission, if the Golden State Warriors called Daryl Morey up and offered Steph Curry and Klay Thompson for Embiid’s contract straight up – which doesn’t technically work but hey, let’s just go with it – the Sixers would surely do so, but for the sake of non-semantic argument, let’s just accept that as an NBA fact.

If the Portland Trail Blazers or the Washington Wizards called up the Sixers and asked for any other player on the roster in a trade for Damian Lillard/Bradley Beal, the team would be hard-pressed to say no, even if they really, really like the player in question.

Okay, cool. So which players fall into the next tier of not-totally-untouchable-but-close players? By my humble estimation, that category has two players, Seth Curry and Tyrese Maxey. I know, I know, many a fan would argue that Matisse Thybulle should probably be in that grouping too, and personally, I would place him in the category, but because of the very volatile trade market value of Ben Simmons, Thybulle might just have to be included in a deal to bring back a top-25 player, especially if they can defend at a high level on the wings.

In the hierarchy of Sixers’ trade chips on rookie-scale contracts, the ordered list goes Maxey, Thybulle, and then every other player in a completely different tier.

Now we get to the third-tier of players, ones who the Sixers would likely prefer to hold onto but would make a move if need be. I would personally place Danny Green, Tobias Harris, and Georges Niang into that category, with Isaiah Joe and Andre Drummond just on the outside looking in. If the Sixers need to match salary for a really good player, Green is the easiest player to throw in, as his $10 million contract is very easy to move. If the Sixers secure a power forward or a small forward with an offensive skill set that overlaps too much with a small forward – I’m looking at you, Brandon Ingram – then Harris and/or Niang could be moved for a better fitting player.

And as for Joe and Drummond? Well, considering they both make less than $2.5 million, including them in a trade would only sweeten a deal from another team’s standpoint, as opposed to getting Philly back a Ricky Rubio-type veteran contributor on a low-to-medium level deal.

Who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers really like Paul Reed and are simply hiding him in the G-League so other teams realize just how good he is, but between you and me, I sort of doubt it. In my humble opinion, the only four players Daryl Morey would have serious pause trading are Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Matisse Thybulle, and Doc Rivers’ favorite player, Seth Curry, and even those final three could surely be moved if the price is right. If building a contender around Embiid’s generational talents really is the goal, everyone else is potential collateral damage in the relentless pursuit of that goal.