Just a week ago, the Sixers selling some of their spare parts ahead of the NBA's Feb. 6 trade deadline and pivoting to a focus on next season seemed inevitable. Now, they are no longer losers of seven straight games, but winners of four consecutive contests. With Joel Embiid still in street clothes and Paul George missing multiple games, Tyrese Maxey has played some of the best basketball of his career, and several key role players have stepped up to help steer this ship in the right direction.
Will the Sixers still shift their focus to next season, or is their four-game winning streak going to help convince this front office that the current iteration of the team is one worth investing in?
Time will tell whether the Sixers are going to buy or sell, and the team's performance across their four remaining home games before the deadline could be the determining factor. Enjoy another batch of fake trades, including options for both scenarios.
Cashing in on Guerschon Yabusele's breakout
Yabusele's rise to prominence has likely been the most heartwarming development of this Sixers season, but if they do elect to sell, it would be prudent to make the most of the 29-year-old's stellar season. Bringing Yabusele back into the fold will be a challenge over the summer, and the difficulty of doing so would actually not be changed much by a trade. If the Sixers do move what has possibly become their most valuable trade asset, here is one deal that could make sense:
Sixers receive: Sandro Mamukelashvili, 2025 and 2026 second-round picks
Spurs receive: Guerschon Yabusele
Mamukelashvili is an NBA big who shoots three-pointers at high volume, so his inclusion is not meaningless, but he would likely serve as more of an innings-eater than anything else. The real prize would be the pair of second-rounders, the first of which likely to land in the top 45 if not higher this June. Unless the Sixers' first-round pick makes an unlikely jump into the top four picks, the team is currently slated to enter the 2025 NBA Draft as one of just four teams with no picks in either round. The Sixers currently own two 2026 first-round picks, but it is the only draft between 2026 and 2031 in which they do not currently own a second-round pick. This would be a good return for Yabusele, however devastating it might be to trade him.
Because of their relatively clean cap sheet, the Spurs are one of a few teams that could clearly use Yabusele's services and also has the ability to re-sign him over the summer at a number commensurate with his recent production. He could play alongside the phenomenal Victor Wembanyama — his teammate for the French Olympic team over the summer — as a power forward or back him up as a center. Yabusele helped swing a game in the Sixers' favor last month with a stellar performance against his countryman.
MORE: How can Sixers bring back Yabusele?
Finding a backup point guard
If the Sixers go in the other direction and choose to buy, their most obvious need is likely another backup guard. But they have to balance that with the recollection that rookie guard Jared McCain, who is sidelined for the remainder of the year with a torn meniscus, will be back next season and should serve as a critical component of head coach Nick Nurse's rotation. So a stopgap of sorts might make more sense, or someone who has the defensive chops and toughness to handle larger assignments. Here's an option that fits both bills:
Sixers receive: Jevon Carter
Chicago Bulls receive: Andre Drummond
Detroit Pistons receive: Reggie Jackson, 2028 second-round pick via Chicago
Carter, 29, has fallen out of Chicago's rotation due to a crowded room of guards, including the return of Lonzo Ball. But he is a hard-nosed, tenacious defender who is also a reliable three-point shooter. Carter is a career 38.5 three-point shooter, which helps him find offensive utility despite a lack of on-ball juice. And while that lack of shot creation does limit his upside as a shorter guard, he does enough to profile as a back-end rotation guard on a good team.
JEVON CARTER HAS 5 3PM IN THE 1Q 🎯 pic.twitter.com/ACLZduSgWS
— NBA (@NBA) December 27, 2024
While Carter's contract includes a $6.8 million player option for next season which he is likely to pick up, that could prove valuable down the line for a Sixers team which is always looking for paths to upgrading its roster. That salary is perfectly-sized to be moved as an expiring deal to help facilitate a trade over the summer or during the season next year.
MORE: McCain talks season-ending injury, shortened rookie year
Adding some frontcourt versatility
This one is a bit out of left field, and despite the ages of the players involved, I don't think it could be singularly described as buying or selling. A trade which could give the Sixers an upgrade to their rotation moving forward, with Yabusele's possible departure in mind:
Sixers receive: Kelly Olynyk
Toronto Raptors receive: KJ Martin, Andre Drummond
Olynyk, who will turn 34 years old in April, is expected by many to be dealt in the next week as the Raptors continue their rebuild. He is under contract for this year and next year, slated to earn $13.4 million in 2025-26. Olynyk has the size to man the middle when needed and more than enough shooting ability to play the four if a lineup or matchup calls for it.
If the Sixers are indeed priced out on Yabusele, Olynyk is someone who has a similar profile in terms of the boxes he checks off: accurate and quick three-point shooter, positional versatility and very helpful passing chops (Olynyk exceeds Yabusele here). And if the fit alongside Embiid didn't work out for any reason, the Sixers would once again have an extremely valuable expiring contract to help get a different deal done down the line.
The question here is whether Martin, 24, has exhibited enough value in the present and potential in the long-term to hang onto. I have long been a proponent of banking on continued growth from the athletic forward, but Olynyk fits such a unique archetype of player that the Sixers could really use moving forward. Perhaps the emergence of undrafted two-way rookie wing Justin Edwards would make it easier for the Sixers to part with Martin.
MORE: Will Edwards be part of Sixers’ future? ‘The sky’s the limit’
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