June 15, 2022
With the NBA Draft just about a week away, on Thursday, June 23, the Sixers are understandably weighing the options they have to try and find some way to improve their underachieving, veteran-laden team.
The Inquirer's Keith Pompey reported Wednesday afternoon that the team is looking for trade partners interested in Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz and Shake Milton, as well as their first-round pick, slotted 23rd in next week's draft.
Here's more from Pompey's latest:
The Sixers are trying to gauge the market and see what they can get for the players and draft pick, one sources said. This approach is part of their effort to compile information and see what deals could work when it’s time to make a trade.
The Sixers realize their current roster is not suited to win a NBA championship. They’re determined to upgrade it with established players that can help propel them.
Harris, Thybulle, Milton, Korkmaz, Green and the draft pick are the best available trade assets, with the team focused on keeping Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. James Harden, who’s stock has declined, has said that he intends to pick up his team $47.3 million option for next season.
Harris has two years and $76.9 millions remaining on the five-year, $180-million contract he signed on July 10, 2019.
The Sixers have publicly stated that they’re going to bring their core players back, including Harris. However, privately the team is, once again, trying to see what the market is for their fourth-leading scoring behind Embiid, Harden and Maxey. [Inquirer.com]
Our own Kyle Neubeck already took a look at the Sixers' limited options, and with the team set to send its first-rounder in 2023 to the Nets, to complete the Ben Simmons (Andre Drummond and Seth Curry) trade that brought James Harden to Philadelphia, there are not too many desirable assets available to send in a potential trade. The Sixers are well over the salary cap threshold and will be relegated to signing minimum contracts and a mid-level exception when free agency arrives later this summer.
Pompey also dropped a minor nugget of intel, saying that the Pacers were a team that kicked the tires on Korkmaz. It follows that Daryl Morey is looking to make a much bigger splash to try and get the roster where it needs to be to contend next season.
Joel Embiid is coming off of his best season as a pro and second straight MVP runner-up performance. Harden appears like he'll be a Sixer for at least one more season. Maxey aside, there doesn't seem to be any real consensus right now as to what the roster will look like around that trio.
But one thing is pretty easy to agree on — it will be an uphill battle for Morey to find a way to favorably mix things up this offseason.
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