Jahlil Okafor hasn’t yet given up hope that he’ll soon escape the Philadelphia 76ers.
Buried on the bench, with his fourth-year team option long since declined, he knows his future isn’t in the City of Brotherly Love. The Sixers have Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Ben Simmons and Richaun Holmes to develop up front. Okafor’s future fell by the wayside before last season ended.
And yet, he remains in Philadelphia, and nobody knows for how much longer. He’ll be gone this summer, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, but he told ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski he’s still banking on a trade or buyout sometime in the near future:
“I would like for them to just send me somewhere where I can get an opportunity,” Okafor told ESPN. “I’ve done everything they’ve asked of me and I would just like to get an opportunity to play with a trade or a buyout. I just hope something happens quickly.
“This is my third year in the NBA, and I know it’s a business. I don’t know if it’s fair or not, but in talking to other people in the NBA, talking to retired players, one thing I’ve heard them say is that what’s going on with me isn’t right and they’ve never seen anything like this before.
“I know it’s business, but in my eyes, I don’t know if it’s good business.”
Keeping Okafor isn’t a good look by any stretch at this point. The Sixers can no longer use the “We’re trying to get something, anything for him” slant as justification. Everyone knows he’s gone after this year. Philly isn’t getting anything of value or consequence for him.
Buying him out may not be a palatable option, since they’d be paying him to go away. At the same time, they’re paying him to not play right now. They might as well shave a little bit off their bottom line. And if that doesn’t jibe with them, a team with cap space might be willing to flat-out absorb him.
Something has to be done. Anything, really. All the Sixers’ are doing at this point is unfairly halting Okafor’s career.
