These Philadelphia 76ers plays might not be long for the roster.
It’s here; it’s finally here: Draft day. No more mock drafts, no more projection, (almost) no more player profiles; now fans can just sit back and watch as the Philadelphia 76ers draft the best player available at pick 23, someone like Jalen Williams, E.J. Liddell, or Dalen Terry.
… or, more realistically, it’s the day the Sixers will trade the pick before the draft even starts, and the whole night will be a certified bore.
Now granted, one can quibble over whether trading the last first round pick in the team’s portfolio until 2024 is a good idea; the Sixers need good, high-upside wings, and the 2022 NBA Draft might as well be owned by Rick Ross, considering it’s a one-stop wing spot, but that speculation is neither here nor there. Daryl Morey is getting paid the big bucks to build this team to his liking, and he clearly has a very specific idea in mind to do just that.
But do you know what? Pick 23 alone probably isn’t going to get the 76ers that much in return trade value, unless, of course, they want to use it on a young player. The pick doesn’t have much monetary value for cap matching purposes, and since the Sixers are over the cap and over the luxury tax threshold, they can’t exactly take back a Jerami Grant-sized contract without parting with players of their own to make it happen.
Fortunately, the Philadelphia 76ers have a number of quality players who not only have some inherent trade value of their own but can also do wonders from a cap-matching standpoint.
3. Matisse Thybulle
Sometimes, the easiest answer to a question is also the most obvious one: Matisse Thybulle.
Now, as you probably already know, the Philadelphia 76ers have been actively shopping Thybulle for weeks now, with Adrian Wojnarowski suggesting that every team in the association has been contacted about what they would give up for a package of the 25-year-old wing and pick 23.
While some quibble with the idea of trading Thybulle just as much as pick 23, as both the player in question and the player eventually selected with said pick are the sorts of young, ascending talents the Sixers need to fill out their roster with. Again, it seems like Philly is more on the lookout for pre-made veteran contributors than attentional chances at the out-of-lottery superstar… lottery.
Fortunately, Thybulle should have at least a little bit of trade value, and even if the Sixers simply want to swap his services out with some other players who may or may not be on this list to amass the firepower needed to trade for Eric Gordon – which really feels like the move Morey wants to pull off – trading Thybulle should work. Will the decision to build an entire offseason around acquiring veteran players who are well over 30 at the expense of younger performers ultimately come back to haunt the team? Maybe so, but when that ball starts rolling down a steep enough hill, there isn’t much one can do to stop it.
2. Furkan Korkmaz
Did you know Furkan Korkmaz is the proud owner of the fifth-highest cap hit on the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022? It’s true; assuming James Harden picks up his option, Korkmaz slots in fifth on the ledger, sandwiched between Danny Green and Matisse Thybulle.
Unfortunately, Korkmaz did not play like the Sixers’ fifth, sixth, or even seventh-best player in 2021-22 and instead looked like a walking trade exception just looking for a new team in search of a young-ish wing on a relatively team-friendly contract.
If, for example, the Sixers want to trade for a player like De’Anthony Melton, who makes $8.25 million, they can’t do it in a one-for-one deal for Matisse Thybulle straight up, even if the Memphis Grizzlies would likely accept that deal. If instead, the team offers up a package of Thybulle and Korkmaz for Melton, then the financial conditions of a deal are met, and the Sixers suddenly find themselves the proud employer of a pretty darn good two-way combo guard.
That, fortunately, or not, is why Korkmaz likely won’t be on the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster this fall and may not even survive the 2022 NBA Draft, as his financial value via trade may just prove more valuable than being an eighth-man who cycles in and out of the rotation depending on the temperature of his shot and the whims of Doc Rivers.
1. Danny Green
And last but not least, we have Danny Green, or as I like to call him, Mr. Soon-to-be-a-Houston Rocket.
Could DG theoretically be back with the Philadelphia 76ers this fall? Sure. Could he sit on the bench until February at the earliest and then re-emerge like Han Solo through the Carbonite to become the rare player who logs more total minutes in the playoffs than in the regular season? Yup, that’s possible too.
But could Danny Green also have his contract’s full value, $10 million, guaranteed mere moments before he’s shipped away in a three-team deal that brings back Eric Gordon and a player like, say, KJ Martin to Philly? Again, not only is that possible, but at this point, it feels like the most obvious course of events, as Gordon and P.J. Tucker appear to be the apples of Daryl Morey’s eye, and he will stop at almost nothing to bring the duo back to James Harden for one final, fantastical run.
Factor in the very real possibility that Green survives the draft but is then released to make room for P.J. Tucker, and it feels incredibly unlikely that DG is a member of the Sixers this fall.
Who do you think are the most expendable members of the Philadelphia 76ers? Do you think Daryl Morey can find a buyer for Tobias Harris, or is there some mystery man who gets moved that few expected like, say, Jaden Springer? Let us know!