There is a chance Jahlil Okafor’s tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers lasts just one season.
Stacked with bigs, the Sixers need to clean up their frontcourt logjam. Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel and Okafor are all best suited at the 5. Philly ran into issues with just Noel and Okafor this season, and that problem will only be exacerbated if and when Embiid gets healthy, as well as when Dario Saric, a power forward in today’s NBA, comes stateside before 2016-17.
The Sixers appear to have the foundation of a plan in place if and when they get to that point, according to Philly.com’s Keith Pompey:
Similar players, Okafor and Embiid are an unlikely pairing. They are both liabilities guarding athletic power forwards and chasing stretch fours on the perimeter. So the belief is that the Sixers may try to move Okafor this summer if Embiid is healthy. If he isn’t, they have to decide between Okafor and Noel.
Trading Okafor alone won’t solve the Sixers’ issues. It will make it easier, since Embiid won’t make his NBA debut averaging 30-plus minutes per game, but unless he’s prepared to shoot threes, neither he nor Noel, who will be extension eligible this summer, is fit for full-time power forward duty.
There’s also the issue of finding a new home for Okafor—a team that’s willing to compensate Philly for his services after season-ending knee surgery. Even if that knee surgery is of little concern, Okafor’s skill set isn’t really all that valuable in today’s league. As a low-post scorer, with little range on his jumper and next to no defensive value, he has to end up on a squad that’s chock full of strong perimeter defenders and floor spacers.
Teams that fit this bill do exist. But it’s unclear which of those teams, if any, will make aggressive plays for the Sixers’ latest enigmatic project.
