This season could not have gone worse for the Philadelphia 76ers if they'd tried. Joel Embiid was limited to 19 games due to chronic knee inflammation. Both Paul George and Tyrese Maxey failed to crack 60 games. Jared McCain, after sprinting out to pole position on Rookie of the Year leaderboards, was done after 23 games due to a fluke meniscus tear.
As a result, the Sixers won 24 games and now own the fifth-best odds for the No. 1 overall pick. As fans spend the next week and change praying for Cooper Flagg, another intriguing, if improbable option has crept onto radars.
The Milwaukee Bucks' first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers has set the ball in motion for a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. All the teams you'd expect to take interest will, on some level. The Houston Rockets and the Brooklyn Nets make the most sense in terms of available assets and market cachet. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a popular sleeper as Sam Presti sits atop his mountain of future picks.
But what about Philadelphia? Just think about it for a second: We know Daryl Morey is willing to embark on ambitious, at times shortsighted trades in order to maximize a title window. It's not often that a player of Antetokounmpo's caliber becomes available via trade. If that indeed happens, one has to think Morey, always in search of max value, will take a gander.
It would require a monster package ā potentially all of Philadelphia's worthwhile future assets ā but at the end of the day, it's Giannis freakin' Antetokounmpo, a perennial MVP candidate and one of the very best two-way stars of his generation. There is a path to appeasing both sides here.
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76ers have the ammo to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but it's risky
Lucas Johnson and myself discussed this very hypothetical at length in the most recent episode of The Sixer Sense Podcast. It's safe to say there was a healthy disagreement over how ambitious Philadelphia should get, as a trade for Giannis is likely to bleed the Sixers dry of most valuable long-term equity.
The general package ā and this is Trade Machine approved ā would be Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Justin Edwards, Andre Drummond, the Clippers' 2028 first-round pick and Philadelphia's 2031 first-round pick.
That, again, is pretty much all of Morey's best chips. There's a case for building this package around Joel Embiid instead, but the Bucks are likely to take greater interest in the younger, more durable Maxey. McCain was the best rookie in the NBA this season when healthy. Edwards, while not perfect, was a rotation-level wing as a rookie, logging 26 starts in 44 games. He was the top recruit in his high school class and considered a potential No. 1 overall pick not too long ago.
Add Philly's only tradable picks into the mix, and it's at least enough to pique Milwaukee's interest. The Bucks won't get many offers with better players than Maxey. Amen Thompson appears off the table for Houston. OKC parting with Jalen Williams and breaking up its core feels far-fetched, especially if the Thunder go deep into the playoffs. With all due respect to Stephon Castle, the Spurs' package cannot touch this with a 10-foot pole.
Philadelphia going all-in on a tight window with Embiid and Paul George, two injury-prone vets most likely on the downswing of their careers, is a huge gamble. And yet, Giannis is the ultimate floor-raiser for a team, not to mention Philly's ceiling with a frontcourt of Embiid, Giannis and George. Factor in the probable re-signing of Quentin Grimes and a potential top-six pick in a loaded draft, and the Sixers are cooking with gasoline.
Sometimes you need to take a risk. The Sixers have just about reached the end of the road with this core. The future would look awfully bleak beyond Giannis' prime, but it's probably worth seeing if two generationally talented 7-footers and a nine-time All-Star in George can get you somewhere in the wide-open East.