NBA Rumors: Philadelphia 76ers never tried to trade for No. 1 pick

The Philadelphia 76ers rumored interest in trading with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 1 pick was one of the key storylines heading into Thursday’s NBA Draft.

There was a report that suggested Philly was offering Cleveland the No. 3 pick, No. 10 pick and No. 32 and another report the team was possibly offering the No. 3 pick, No. 10 pick and Thaddeus Young, all with the hopes of being in a position to draft Andrew Wiggins.

However, amazingly enough, the Sixers never attempted to trade for the No. 1 pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

That’s almost hard to believe, given how much reported interest Philly had in Wiggins throughout the entire draft process. But perhaps Cleveland decided to use that perceived interest to their advantage.

While there’s no actual proof of this being so, It certainly makes sense that the Cavaliers would leak false information about Philadelphia’s interest in trading for the No. 1 pick,  in hopes of that drumming up real interest from another suitor. When considering how much the 76ers were offering in these rumored deals, it seems even more likely that Cleveland was simply trying to make other teams panic and offer them a great package for the top pick.

If that was the case, then their plan failed miserably. As Cleveland found no trade partner, ended up with who many of us thought they would take all along in Kansas forward Wiggins, and made themselves look less trustworthy.

There also remains the possibility that the 76ers leaked the false rumors or Wojnarowski’s source is simply wrong here, which Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk suggests could be the case.

Regardless, this whole situation is very confusing and all we really know is that no trade was ever made.