NBA Trade Deadline 2020: One trade every team should make

Philadelphia 76ers: Al Horford for the Utah Jazz’s Mike Conley

Reasons for Philadelphia: Al Horford isn’t working so well in Philly. He’s a more than capable backup to Joel Embiid, but that’s not as important a job as his skills deserve. When they play together, Horford’s role is too limited, and he’s voiced some concerns over that. The Sixers lost to the Raptors in the playoffs because they didn’t have a good backup for Embiid, but Kyle O’Quinn can probably do that well enough. The Sixers instead add Conley, who, presuming his return to good health, instantly becomes one of the best perimeter initiators on the team. He can play alongside Ben Simmons or back him up while running bench and transitional units. He’s having a down year, but he’s used to playing alongside an offensively dominant post big, and Embiid fits that bill much better than Rudy Gobert. The bet is that Conley eventually returns to health and bounces back, and that upgrades the Sixers to a great extent. Conley’s health would be a major risk, though.

Reasons for Utah: Ditto the Sixers portion, basically, but the inverse. Conley isn’t working so well in Utah, and like Horford in Philadelphia, it’s probably because so many players on the roster already do what Conley does. Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, now Jordan Clarkson: the Jazz already have a fair number of perimeter creators. Horford gives them a new angle, a big who can initiate from the high post and pass as well as anyone. His switchable defense and rim protection would work perfectly on Utah, where he could play alongside Gobert or replace him in some series. The Jazz, like Philadelphia, would be better off after this trade. This solves both teams’ inverted “too many cooks” issues.