The NBA Trade Deadline is approaching and the Philadelphia 76ers are going to be one of the busier teams. In order for them to make the moves that they are going to want to pair someone next to their superstar Joel Embiid, they're going to have to make some tough decisions and get rid of some players.
The Sixers are a very good basketball team as they showed at the beginning of the season when everybody was on the court and healthy. Unfortunately, Embiid went down with COVID-19 and missed almost 10 games. During his absence, Philadelphia couldn't find any success but that is to be expected because he is that good. There's a reason why he's an MVP candidate every year for the past few seasons and losing him will certainly not lead to any success for the Sixers.
Philadelphia is in an interesting position because they do have their superstar that they need to win an NBA title and some role players who could help. Tobias Harris isn't necessarily that guy who can be the second-best player on a championship team, and we've all seen what Ben Simmons does when the pressure is on him.
Let's take a look at three players the Sixers must trade at the NBA Trade Deadline
3 Players The Sixers Should Trade
3. Ben Simmons
This is clear and Ben Simmons should have been traded seven months ago. If we're being honest, he should have been treated two years ago. He clearly was never the guy that they needed to be next to Embiid and Philadelphia did a horrible job keeping him around for that long.
The issue with the front office is that they are clearly overvaluing what they can get back for him. There are many options out there and there's going to be even more at the trade deadline. If a team like the Portland Trail Blazers comes back for a guy like CJ McCollum, Philadelphia needs to take the offer. Having nobody out there is clearly not the answer because there's only so much that Embiid can do.
If Philadelphia didn't have Simmons, there is a chance that they could have won an NBA title a season ago. His play in the playoffs was simply embarrassing and was one of the major reasons why Philadelphia could not beat the Atlanta Hawks. Factor in that Tobias Harris went missing and Embiid didn't exactly play well in fourth quarters, and a championship was out of reach for this Sixers team.
They're taking way too long to make this trade and it's only going to get worse if they keep on waiting. They have no leverage whatsoever in terms of being able to trade him and their asking price is just simply absurd.
2. Furkan Korkmaz
Korkmaz isn't necessarily a bad player but he doesn't really bring much to this team. Sure, he can hit the outside shot at times but he's wildly inconsistent. Philadelphia already has a guy in Seth Curry who is arguably the best catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter in all of the NBA. There's really no reason to have Korkmaz here due to his inconsistency and Philadelphia should think about trading him. He's not necessarily going to be a guy who brings back any sort of value, but he could be thrown in in the Ben Simmons package to help them potentially land what they are looking for.
Matisse Thybulle and Tyrese Maxey should be off-limits so adding another guy like Korkmaz should be able to help some trades get going.
1. Tobias Harris
This might surprise some people, but Tobias Harris isn't exactly that good. If we're being honest, he might be one of the most overrated players in the NBA when looking at his contract. Philadelphia looks at him as somebody of a Khris Middleton type of player of the Milwaukee Bucks. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, he just really isn't that good. He's only averaging 18 points per game this season and his performance last year in the playoffs would have been much more covered if Ben Simmons wasn't as bad as he was.
Harris got lucky that Simmons played that bad in the playoffs because if he didn't, Philadelphia would have had their pitchforks out on him instead of Simmons. He's not that second star that Philadelphia wants him to be and if they ever want to bring a championship back to Philadelphia with Embiid as their centerpiece, Harris needs to go. Whether that means a potential Harris and Simmons trade for a guy like Damian Lillard, or trading them one by one each. There are certainly better players out there on the type of contract that he is on and Philadelphia needs to highly consider moving him.
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