The Philadelphia 76ers just endured several months of desperately clinging to their first-round pick. If the pick had landed outside of the top six, it would have gone to the Oklahoma City Thunder, so the 76ers spent the second half of last season tanking in an effort to keep it.
Last week, that pick officially landed at No. 3 overall, and now that the 76ers have actually secured it, they need to decide what to do with it.
After the NBA Draft Lottery, top 76ers executive Daryl Morey said that the “plan is to keep” the pick. The rest of the league, however, does not seem to trust him. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony is reporting that “some teams expect the Sixers to be active in trade conversations” now that they know where they are picking. Two names Givony mentions as candidates? Kevin Durant and Lauri Markkanen.
Daryl Morey is about as aggressive a star hunter as exists in the NBA. Last summer, he got his man when he landed Paul George on a four-year, max salary free agent contract. That deal has thus far aged poorly. George has declined due to age and struggled to remain healthy. That contributed to Philadelphia tanking in a season that began with championship ambitions.
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Those championship ambitions probably haven’t vanished altogether. Trading the pick could do two important things for the 76ers. The first, obviously, would be to help push this team back toward contention next season by swapping out the declining George for an upgrade. The second, and arguably more important part, would be getting out of the last three years of George’s contract before it becomes too onerous to move.
Of course, doing so wouldn’t exactly clean up their books. Durant will be 37 on opening night and will likely want a contract extension. Markkanen is on the books for four more years, one more than George, at max money. Any player the 76ers take back in a George deal is going to be expensive. He’d just need to justify that financial investment.
The upside to just using the pick at No. 3 would be that the player taken there would be relatively cheap. First-round picks come with four years of team control at a reasonable price. If the 76ers land the right player in that slot, they would add youth along younger core pieces like Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain and potentially create enough surplus value thanks to that cost control to offset the overpayment of George and Joel Embiid.
When you’re paying injury-prone stars max money, it helps to have a young star locked into a cheap deal.
Of course, that actually means drafting a young star. That’s no guarantee at No. 3, so Morey wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t at least explore what was out there on the trade market for his pick. For now, he has optionality. If he thinks Embiid is capable of staying healthy across four playoff rounds moving forward, that pick could get him the final piece he needs to contend. If he doesn’t, the pick is his best chance at finding Maxey a long-term co-star for the next era of 76ers basketball. His choice will likely depend on just how much trade value that pick winds up having.
