With James Harden finally traded for a package that’s considerably less than what Daryl Morey hoped to secure when his second-best player asked out four months ago, where do the Philadelphia 76ers go from here? This might be the most significant question in the NBA.
In addition to a slew of expiring contracts, Philadelphia received unprotected first-round picks in 2026 and 2028, according to The Athletic, and a pair of second-round picks in Tuesday’s deal. Those are the details. What really matters, though, is how Morey can turn that haul into something that placates Joel Embiid, a reigning MVP who’s desperate to advance past the second round for the first time in his career.
The Sixers are ultimately on Embiid’s clock, at the mercy of his own willingness to embrace the front office’s long-term vision. He’s under contract for at least two more seasons after this one, but that doesn’t mean Philly is immune to a trade demand; the organization’s urgency level hinges on Embiid’s patience. If that doesn’t wane, the team likely won’t be in any rush to exchange future draft capital for a win-now piece before February’s trade deadline—should one worth acquiring even emerge.
There’s a world in which Tyrese Maxey (who was just named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week) becomes an All-Star, Embiid has another dominant, MVP-caliber season, and Philly’s roster full of two-way veterans congeals in a beneficial way inside Nick Nurse’s new system. Total scrubs aren’t walking in the door, either. Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, and K.J. Martin provide size, versatility, shooting, self-awareness, and athleticism; all can handle meaningful minutes in a competitive environment. (A potential closing lineup of Embiid, Maxey, Batum, Covington, and Tobias Harris is not bad at all!)
And in this world—coming off a postseason in which the Miami Heat made an improbable run from the play-in tournament to the NBA Finals, now in a top-heavy conference that features a couple of contenders who can’t be certain how their foundation-altering changes will do in the playoffs—the Sixers can convince themselves they’re good enough to prevail without another trade this season, knowing reinforcements are on the way this summer if they come up short.
The idea of wasting a season of Embiid’s prime—he will turn 30 in March—is an ugly one. But that’s a cynical way to read this situation. For one, the list of players who make sense on the court next to Embiid and Maxey, and are worth surrendering draft picks and cap space for, is extremely short. Someone logical could shake free over the next few months, but right now we’re talking about the likes of Buddy Hield, Gary Trent Jr., and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Instead, assuming the Sixers are playing well and that Embiid is sold on their direction, next offseason is when they’ll have an opportunity to upgrade in a major way, without sacrificing some of their most valuable assets at the trade deadline. Everyone knows they will have max cap space—and then some, after including P.J. Tucker’s deal in the Harden trade—and here are the biggest names about to enter free agency: Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Klay Thompson, and DeMar DeRozan. (Because this is the NBA and anything is possible, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Jrue Holiday are also, technically speaking, on that list.)
Any of those first four would be an exciting name beside Embiid and Maxey. (Leonard or George aren’t likely but would be obvious home run additions, in the event that things go terribly wrong for the Clippers.)
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Acquiring anyone of that caliber in-season instead of waiting for free agency would let everyone compete together during the 2023-24 playoffs. That sounds wonderful. It just doesn’t seem very realistic, and, while waiting for free agency is an obvious gamble, it would preserve the team’s draft capital and require only cap space. Also, even if the Raptors or Bulls decided to trade Siakam, Anunoby, or DeRozan, there’s no guarantee the Sixers would have the best package. (At most right now, they can offer expiring contracts, three firsts, and a bunch of seconds/swaps. Any one of those players could kill the market by making it clear they only want to play for the Sixers, but so far there’s been no indication of that happening.)
If the Sixers do preserve their cap space, it would also open the door to absorbing a max contract via trade this summer—some star who’s sick of his current situation, or on a team that’s experiencing buyer’s remorse. (Here’s where the new collective bargaining agreement will rear its head.) Taking this path would dramatically widen Morey’s options, which is when his brilliance usually shows.
When considering the NBA’s constantly shifting landscape, the only thing that’s certain is that something nobody sees coming will occur. That could be the sudden availability of someone like Jaylen Brown, Brandon Ingram, or Jimmy Butler. Or, more predictably, it could be a cost-conscious Timberwolves team that’s desperate to dump Karl-Anthony Towns—giving the Sixers a seemingly implausible construct that could actually make them a formidable, singular, humongous contender.
I think about this twin tower possibility more than I should, but it speaks to how many roads the Sixers can theoretically go down, with a creative general manager at the helm who sees an opportunity to build this roster from scratch around two complementary mega talents in Embiid and Maxey. That reality might frustrate a fan base that understandably wants to maximize Embiid’s prime. But Morey is a man obsessed with the pursuit of his first championship and who understands there are no shortcuts to get there. And so long as his franchise center is on the same page, it’s more probable than not that Philadelphia will have to wait longer than it’d like to land a third star.
