It’s officially official: We’re less than two weeks out of the NBA’s Feb. 23 deadline, which means the Philadelphia 76ers are about to dominate the rumor mill until they deal one of their six kajillion bigs.
Nothing sounds like it’s imminent, though. We know Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel are available, and that Richaun Holmes could probably be had as well. But general manager Bryant Colangelo wouldn’t tip his hand on the Sixers’ stance leading into the deadline while making an appearance on The 97.5 Fanatic, per NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo:
“We’ve got three talented bigs,” Colangelo said Thursday on 97.5 The Fanatic. “They all feel that they deserve to be looked at as a potential starter and be paid as a starter. The phones have been ringing. There has been a lot of conversations. There’s been some activity. Quite a bit actually in recent weeks. It’s not something that’s just come up in recent weeks because it’s something we’ve been looking to address since I got here.
“I’ve always said that I’m looking to make a good deal for this organization. Not a bad deal. At some point, something’s got to give and we probably have to move in a different direction.”
A lot of this is executive-speak. Colangelo isn’t about to come out and say, “Hey! We’re trying to tradde Jahlil Okafor to the New Orleans Pelicans without taking back Omer Asik.”
It’s not even clear which big the Sixers prefer to trade. Joel Embiid isn’t going anywhere. That much is clear. But while Noel is clearly the better player, he’s barreling toward a raise in restricted free agency. Okafor is the cheaper option, at least for the next two years, and the Sixers could try developing him as a second-unit anchor once they clear up the current logjam—and that, in turn, could raise his trade value ahead of next year.
Still, if the Sixers move any of their bigs, it feels like they’ll deal Okafor. His fit with the team, both now and long term, is far more questionable than that of Noel.
