We are approximately two weeks away from this season’s Feb. 6 trade deadline. The Sixers have been hovering around the middle of the Eastern Conference’s playoff seeds for most of the season’s first half.
They appear good enough to make the postseason, and perhaps avoid the play-in tournament. But they’re certainly not the favorite to win the East either.
Now, you might say, before last season’s disaster, Philly was a staple in the Eastern Conference postseason and rarely was the oddsmakers’ choice to get to the NBA Finals and that didn’t deter the Sixers from adding to their roster. You’d be correct. Whether it was a big swing like the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade or a smaller acquisition like the countless backup centers Philadelphia tried to put behind Joel Embiid for a few months before the postseason began, the Sixers have always tried to supplement their playoff rosters adequately in the regular season.
But eventually all of that trading and roster reshuffling catches up to you. By now, I think most fans know that Philadelphia owes its first-round pick this year to Oklahoma City after retaining the first rounder in last year’s draft lottery. Technically the pick is top-four protected this year, but the Thunder will almost certainly be getting the Sixers’ 2026 first-rounder. That will finally wrap up the debt owed to Oklahoma City when the Thunder took Al Horford’s contract in December 2020. Remember that Simmons-Harden trade at the 2022 trade deadline? That trade won’t finally be completed until Philadelphia sends Brooklyn one final first-rounder in 2028 that is top-eight protected.
Naturally when you are a deadline buyer, it’s nice to be able to control your first-round picks. Philly does not have that luxury in two of the next three drafts which could certainly limit Daryl Morey’s options these next couple weeks. There is one high-valued asset that Morey could put on the table in trade talks and that’s the 2028 unprotected Los Angeles Clippers first-round pick that he got in the trade of Harden to the Clippers. Given the current state of the Clippers, that’s certainly looking like it could be a very high draft pick in two years. Is now the time to dangle that kind of a pick in trade talks? You’d have to feel really good about the team’s chances of making a deep playoff run. While the team isn’t bad, I’m not sure it makes the most sense with where the organization is at.
Entering the season, there were plenty of concerns about what the team might get from Embiid and Paul George as both players were a year older, injured a bunch last season and making boatloads of money for multiple seasons ahead. Embiid has given them some solid games on some nights while George continues to look like a bad investment. But the Sixers’ success this season has mostly been rooted in Tyrese Maxey taking the next step towards superstardom, VJ Edgecombe looking like a Rookie of the Year candidate, and some good ancillary acquisitions from Morey in the frontcourt behind Embiid. It has felt like a welcomed change to a newer and younger era of Sixers basketball. Therefore, is an “all-in” move which trading the team’s lone high-valued draft asset in the next three drafts would be, really the smartest decision right now?
Unlike previous trade deadlines, when Philadelphia was more clearly defined as a “win-now” team, the Sixers should not be looking for the veteran types like Harden and the countless backup big men they’ve acquired over the years behind Embiid. As we mentioned, they’re starting to turn the page and get younger, and that’s a goal that needs to be furthered at this year’s trade deadline and beyond. Players in their early 20s like Dominick Barlow, Adem Bona and Jabari Walker have been regulars in the rotation and have helped the team win games this season. If Morey can acquire another younger player like that who is also able to come right into the rotation and contribute for the remainder of 2025-26, he absolutely should.
But how many of those players are available at trade deadlines? Often times, sellers are looking to offload veterans and expiring contracts and hold on to their own younger players. That’s why the Sixers are in a tough spot these next few weeks. It makes sense to add, but they need to add strategically and often times younger players with club control are more expensive in trades and we already detailed the shortage of first-round picks that Philly currently has to offer.
So, where does that leave Morey and his staff as they work the phones these next few weeks? It means they will probably have to shop in the clearance aisle. That’s an aisle they can afford to shop in as they do have some second-round picks in future drafts that would allow them to have some conservations about some bench players on other teams or players that need a change of scenery. There are also the expiring contracts of Quentin Grimes, Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. that could be attractive to other teams as well. In other words, they’re not out of options, but they’re also not picking from a menu at an expensive steakhouse either. If Morey can successfully thread the needle, we might be in for a fun second half and enter the offseason with optimism about the future of the franchise.
