20 early NBA trades we really want to see
By Ti Windisch
Bledsoe to … Philly?!
Okay, so this trade is pretty out there, I admit that from the jump. Still, here me out before you assemble a Voltron on Twitter to end me, Sixers hive.
The Philadelphia 76ers are already pretty damn good. Philly is over .500 in the surprisingly-good Eastern Conference, and that’s without getting much from first overall pick Markelle Fultz. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are super young, but they look like stars already.
Philly trusted the process, and it paid off. Instead of trying to wait around for Fultz, out for a few weeks with a shoulder injury, why not take this thing to the next level? In exchange for the young point guard and the very sad Jahlil Okafor, the Sixers get Eric Bledsoe.
All of a sudden, Philly is a lock for the postseason. A starting five of Bledsoe, J.J. Redick, Robert Covington, Simmons and Embiid is damn good, both now and later. The Sixers’ bench would be stacked too, led by Dario Saric.
Phoenix, on the other hand, gets two more young players that were taken very high up in the NBA Draft. Both guys are gambles, Okafor more so than Fultz, but what does Phoenix have left to do now but take shots on high potential players when possible?