Today is Tuesday, and that means it is time to answer your questions on all things Sixers as the team formulates its draft and free agency plans. Let's talk trade possibilities and more, courtesy of my followers on Bluesky:
From @zteutsch.bsky.social: This seems like the worst time to trade Paul George or Joel Embiid. They should both be better next season (hard to be worse). Can you walk us through how it could work to trade one or both near the trade deadline? Assume that they are meaningfully better but nowhere near the peaks they hit in their primes.
One of the early takeaways from the NBA's new salary cap environment ushered in by a reworked collective bargaining agreement: trading massive salaries in the middle of the season borderlines on impossible. And if it does happen, it requires at least three teams (if not four or five) and a whole lot of desperation.
Embiid will make $55.2 million next season; George will earn $51.6 million. Both players are signed to long-term contracts. In an era where aprons and hard caps are ruling every team's decision-making process, it is extremely difficult to imagine those players being moved during a season unless there is a very specific set of circumstances.
This begs the question: when is the easiest time to trade Embiid and George? You are certainly right that right now is the worst time. Embiid played in 19 games last year and George played in only 41, while both players looked far worse than expected in the games they did play. It is extremely difficult to imagine either player having less trade value than they do today, though unfortunately for the Sixers it is not impossible that their value will continue to deteriorate.
The offseason will always be an infinitely easier setting to trade major contracts than the regular season. Teams do not have to keep their roster at a certain number of players in June or July. They do not have to worry about their roster "fitting" immediately with games coming up because those games are still months away. There are many more teams with significant financial flexibility making them capable of facilitating major deals.
If the Sixers ever seriously pursue trades of Embiid and George, the overwhelmingly likely scenario is that it happens in an offseason. But those two players will need to have performed well enough to actually draw trade interest despite their gargantuan contracts.
MORE: Could Sixers trade George, No. 3 pick for Kevin Durant?
From @yduker.bsky.social: What will we be able to figure out about what the Sixers really think about Embiid's short-term and long-term prognosis based on what they do in the draft?
I think the only way the Sixers' draft decisions give any sort of indication of the team's view of Embiid's health next season and moving forward is if they do something so drastic that it becomes clear they are preparing for him to be consistently unavailable.
Generally speaking, the consensus viewpoint is that the four best prospects under consideration for the team at No. 3 overall are all perimeter players. The Sixers have maintained their plan is to draft the best player available when they are on the clock; their pick is too high and their short-term outlook is too murky for any other strategy. After making that pick, the Sixers will not be on the clock again until the next day when they make the No. 35 overall pick.
At that point, if the Sixers took a center — even one with a skill set not allowing that player to coexist with Embiid — it would be a player hoping to prove they can be a backup center (think Adem Bona at No. 41 overall last year).
The only way we will have a better understand of the Sixers' view of Embiid's physical viability after the draft is if they invest their largest resource — the No. 3 pick, or even their top pick after a trade down — in a center. The two main options would likely be Duke's Khaman Maluach — draft expert Logan Adams told me in today's Q&A that he doesn't think the 7-foot-2 18-year-old would ever play with Embiid — and Maryland's Derik Queen, who Chuck Falck argued in an earlier Q&A could be a viable frontcourt partner for Embiid long-term, though he might not be suitable for that role right away.
If the Sixers end up drafting Maluach or Queen at No. 3 — or even slightly lower in the lottery — it would be a pretty significant indication that the team felt it had a long-term hole at center, even with Embiid under contract for another four years and $248 million.
ASKING NBA DRAFT EXPERTS ABOUT SIXERS' POSSIBLE CHOICES AT NO. 3
Ace Bailey | V.J. Edgecombe | Kon Knueppel
Derik Queen | Tre Johnson | Khaman Maluach
From @76ersbluehens.bsky.social: How are the Sixers able to trade Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond and/or Eric Gordon in a draft-related trade if they have not opted in yet? Isn’t the opt-in date after the draft? If they know a trade is coming wouldn’t they opt out instead?
This is a great question that I was hoping someone would ask. The first day of the 2025 NBA Draft is June 25; these players do not need to decide on their player options until June 29. The Sixers, of course, cannot trade someone with an upcoming player option decision. The Sixers would not be able to trade any of these players without having official word from the player or their representation that they are choosing to opt in. But if any of those players do opt in, the Sixers can trade them immediately.
The answer to your final question is a bit more complicated, and it depends on not just the player, but also their potential market, the possible trade destination and their personal preferences. The natural inclination is to guess that a player would do anything they can to prevent a trade, but that is not always how it happens.
Player options oftentimes come in before the draft, though the highest-profile ones go down the wire in most cases. Ultimately, everyone involved understands that they could be moved, and players generally ensure they are maximizing their earnings and then hope they can avoid being moved if they are happy where they are. So I would not anticipate one of these players declining their option merely for the sake of dodging a theoretical trade.
MORE: Sixers' most appealing trade down partners at No. 3
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