Now that there is some optimism Joel Embiid might return this season, the Philadelphia 76ers could be active ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast (starts at 50-minute mark), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said he would expect the Sixers to make “one to three trades” before the 3 p.m. ET deadline:
“They are now operating in talks like he [Embiid] is going to come back, and hopefully for the playoffs. So I’d expect Philly to make one to three trades before Thursday afternoon. And I would also expect them to try—I’m not saying they’re going to accomplish this—I would expect them to try to acquire players that either have expiring contracts or that have next year’s salaries that are not fully guaranteed or that can easily be offloaded.”
Windhorst later said on NBA Today to “keep an eye on” the Sixers as a potential landing spot for Utah Jazz big man Kelly Olynyk.
The Sixers announced Embiid had surgery to repair the meniscus injury in his left knee on Tuesday. He will be reevaluated in four weeks.
On the Takeoff podcast with John Clark, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium said Embiid will “likely” be out for six to eight weeks.
Charania did note the timeline is fluid based on how Embiid’s rehab and recovery process unfolds.
If the Sixers are hopeful that Embiid will be able to play again this season, it would make sense for president of basketball operations Daryl Morey to operate with some level of aggression ahead of the trade deadline.
When the 76ers have had Embiid and Tyrese Maxey healthy, they’ve been a top-three team in the Eastern Conference. They are 26-7 with both of their All-Stars on the court together, but just 4-11 in 15 games without the reigning NBA MVP this season.
If at least one trade does materialize, it seems like shooting is the area that Morey is prioritizing.
Per Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, Buddy Hield of the Indiana Pacers and Bojan Bogdanović of the Detroit Pistons are among the players being targeted by the Sixers.
Philadelphia ranks 17th in three-point percentage (36.4) and 27th in three-pointers made per game (11.4). The only teams that make fewer shots from behind the arc on a per-game basis are the Los Angeles Lakers (11.3), Pistons (11.1) and Orlando Magic (10.7).
Fischer did note the Pistons haven’t indicated they are willing to move Bogdanović.
Hield could be expendable for a Pacers team that has the best offense in the league and might want to find a defensive helper. He’s averaging his fewest minutes per game (25.7) since 2017-18 and fewest points per game (12.0) since his rookie season in 2016-17.
Both Hield and Bogdanović have contracts that would allow the Sixers to maintain some of their cap flexibility this summer. Hield is in the final season of his contract with an $18.6 million salary. Bogdanović has a $2 million partial guarantee next season that becomes fully guaranteed for $19 million on June 29.
