July 01, 2015
Just when you thought the Sixers were going to have a completely quiet first day of free agency, they go ahead and make a pretty noteworthy deal. Woj (who else?) had the report:
Sacramento is trading Jason Thompson and Carl Landry as part of a salary dump to the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 2, 2015
The Kings are sending Nik Stauskus to the 76ers as part of the deal too, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 2, 2015
Sources: 76ers sending the rights of oveseas players to Kings. Philly wanted Stauskas and will take on Thompson/Landry salaries.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 2, 2015
Although there is the nice story of Thompson coming home, the key to this deal is Stauskas. The Sixers reportedly had a lot of interest in using the 10th pick of last year's draft to select the three-point marksman out of Michigan, but Sacramento went ahead and took him at 8. A year later, the Kings front office decided to cut ties with the 21-year-old as part of a salary dump.
UPDATE: Grantland's Zach Lowe dropped this bombshell. From a Sixers standpoint, this trade seems too good to be true unless something else has gone unreported:
Sixers will receive a protected 1st-round pick from the Kings, and swap rights w/ Sacto in the 1st round of two other drafts, sources say.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 2, 2015
SECOND UPDATE: Dario Saric isn't involved. We'll still have to see exactly what the pick swaps are and what the Kings are able to accomplish in free agency, but the Sixers did very, very well here:
Saric is not in the Kings-Sixers deal, sources say. Philly receives top-10 protected SAC pick 2 years after SAC's obligation to CHI expires
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 2, 2015
Much more to come.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
