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The Philadelphia 76ers have once again fallen short of their goal of winning an NBA championship. Despite taking a 3-2 series lead at home against division rival Boston Celtics, they proceeded to crap the bed, choking away a fourth quarter lead at home in Game 6 while lacking the requisite effort to keep up with the Celtics during their second half onslaught in Game 7. Joel Embiid, in particular, must shoulder a lot of the blame, as he didn't put up an MVP-level effort with their season on the line.
Sure, Embiid may have been dealing with an injury. He injured his knee in the first round against the Brooklyn Nets, and he didn't look like his usual dominant self against the Celtics. However, it certainly looks like this happens to Embiid in every postseason run. It's hard to fault him for suffering injuries at inopportune times, but will the Sixers share the same sentiment?
Of course, knowing the Sixers front office, it's difficult to envision them even entertaining the idea of cutting bait on Joel Embiid only months after he won the MVP award. After all, the point of their “process” in the mid-2010s was to grab a game-changing star atop the draft, and that's who they have in Embiid.
Retooling around their star center surely is the most likely outcome for the Sixers this offseason. Their first order of business will be convincing James Harden to run it back amid rumors of a potential reunion with the Houston Rockets. But in the unlikely event that the Sixers make Embiid available for trade, these are three unrealistic blockbusters that could materialize.
Sixers trade Joel Embiid, Furkan Korkmaz to the New Orleans Pelicans for Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, Dyson Daniels, 2023, 2025, 2027 NOP first-round pick, 2024 MIL first-round pick
This seems preposterous for both teams at first glance, and, really, it is. There's simply no way that the Sixers would want to do this, as the drop-off from Joel Embiid to Jonas Valanciunas won't be worth adding Brandon Ingram to their ranks. Embiid is a marvelous two-way force, a bruising interior presence with a silky game from the perimeter. Meanwhile, the Pelicans even acknowledge that Valanciunas sometimes isn't cut out to play clutch minutes due to his lack of defensive impact.
But the point of this exercise is to imagine a few insane scenarios involving an Embiid trade, and this is certainly one of them. A team trading away a star rarely ever acquires fair value, although it'll be difficult for a team to top what the Pelicans can offer in a trade given the combination of impact players and draft picks they can package in a potential trade.
The Pelicans, as much as they would love to have Joel Embiid, may be hesitant to entertain this trade anyway. An Embiid-Zion Williamson partnership would be incredible, but the injury risk involved won't be too palatable even for those with a huge appetite for risk.
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Sixers trade Joel Embiid to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Chet Holmgren, Kenrich Williams, Ousmane Dieng, Tre Mann, 2024, 2026, and 2028 OKC first-round picks, 2025 PHI first-round pick, 2025 MIA first-round pick
Again, there's no way the Thunder and Sixers want to do this trade, no? Chet Holmgren hasn't yet suited up for the Thunder, so at the very least, one would expect that they would want to see what they have with the second overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft before making any drastic moves.
Nevertheless, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander improving at a rapid rate, culminating in a first team All-NBA selection this past season, expediting their rebuilding effort with the addition of Joel Embiid may not be the worst idea in the world. Embiid solves a lot of the Thunder's issues — rebounding, interior defense, size — and his presence alone makes OKC a playoff team despite being in the Western Conference.
In this scenario, the Thunder will have Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dort, and Jalen Williams around Embiid. That looks like a winning team.
For the Sixers, they will have to accept a full-scale rebuild for this trade to even have the weakest of legs. Holmgren possesses tantalizing potential, but at the end of the day, there's much uncertainty with him especially after his injury woes. Meanwhile, there are no guarantees that those picks amount to much.
Heat reunite Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid, trade Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic, 2023, 2027, 2029 MIA first-round picks, 2024 and 2026 MIA pick swap, three second-round picks to the Sixers
While helping a rival team would pain the Sixers, this trade would allow help them not have a steep drop off, thanks to the presence of Bam Adebayo, a player who could function as their new two-way fulcrum. Given Jimmy Butler's age and Joel Embiid's injury-related risk, those Heat picks could even amount to something good.
But the real crux of the deal is pairing Butler and Embiid once more, which may twist the knife for some Sixers fans who still feel like they let Butler become the one that got away for them by choosing to keep Tobias Harris over the Heat star.
