The 2024 NBA Draft is here, marking the beginning of a very important offseason for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers have the 16th and 41st overall selections. This is the first time they’ve had a draft pick in both rounds since 2021 and the first time they’ve had a top-20 selection since Daryl Morey became the team's president of basketball operations. They have the chance to infuse the roster around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey with more young talent.
But the Sixers also have some nice assets to use in a trade. With all the cap space they have, they can acquire a variety of players. Morey said that he likes the players who should be available at the 16th pick but that 1) it's harder to find win-now talent in that range and 2) the team is keeping all its options open. Whatever options they choose to pursue will have a major impact on whether the team around Embiid is good enough to compete with the best of the best.
Here are three bold predictions for the 76ers in the 2024 NBA Draft.
76ers use No. 16 pick to trade for Paul George or Brandon Ingram
It has been reported far and wide that the Sixers are a team that could trade their first-round selection. With their affinity for adding a star, it seems likely that they would dangle their first-rounder in the hopes of landing George or Ingram.
Both players have their flaws; George is about to be past his prime and has declined as a defender and Ingram plays at a slower, methodical pace and has a preference for tough shots in the mid-range, making him a stylistic clash with Embiid. Still, they each represent the All-Star-caliber player that Morey has been trying to acquire since trading away James Harden. Both players seem likely to leave their incumbent teams at some point this offseason.
The Los Angeles Clippers don’t have a first-round pick and the Pelicans have just the 21st pick. Adding more draft capital is never a bad thing, especially for an older team like LA or a team trying to accumulate assets for a bigger trade down the line like NOLA. The possibility of George opting into his player option and demanding trade is picking up steam, so the Sixers may not be able to sign him outright.
While Morey has struck draft-day trades in 2020 and 2022, the new CBA environment may make it tougher to find the right trade. It’s possible that a trade is agreed on but doesn’t officially happen until the league's new year. It's also possible that the Sixers make a trade for a role player instead.
One of Morey's draft-night trades gave the Sixers a young, proven role player in De'Anthony Melton. They gave up the risk of adding a rookie and got decent production from Melton as a starter and bench player. If George or Ingram aren’t in the cards, this could also be the type of trade Philly pulls off. They could, for example, hit up the fire-sale-hosting Brooklyn Nets and ask about Cam Johnson or Dorian Finney-Smith.
If the 76ers do decide to stay with pick 16, there should be plenty of talent to choose from that will either be ready to play from day one and/or have the potential to outperform their draft slot. But all indications are that the team is prioritizing win-now talent, particularly a star.
76ers hold onto 41st pick, draft Jalen Bridges
Having good players on cheap deals will be very important under the new CBA. Since second-round picks can now be signed to longer contracts that don’t eat into other cap exceptions or cap space, there may be an influx in teams preferring to keep their second-rounder and roll the dice on a prospect. For Philly, that player could be Baylor forward Jalen Bridges.
Bridges is a big wing that shoots the three-ball like nobody's business. The 6-foot-8, 23-year-old wing took 5.1 attempts from downtown with Baylor last season, converting on 41.2 percent of them and doing more than just launching stationary threes. He shot 82.3 percent from the foul line, which further suggests that his shooting touch is legit.
Rebounding is another notable skill that Bridges brings to the table. He averaged 5.7 boards per game and did a solid job crashing the glass on the offensive end, putting his size to good use. He's a tough defender, too, adept at swooping in to block a shot, generating steals, and fighting to shut down opponents on the ball. Even though he’s not a big-time playmaker or one-on-one shot-maker, which calls into question how much he'll be able to fend for himself at the next level, Bridges is really good in two key areas that good NBA role players need to shine in.
It’s hard to find a super tight commonality with the young players Morey has added to the Sixers' margins over the years. But based on the signings of Julian Champagnie and Louis King (who spent most of their time in the G League) and the midseason trade for Jalen McDaniels in 2023, Morey seems to like taking swings on big players who can shoot and score. It makes sense, as those types of players often prove to be very valuable when they pan out. It's also easy to slide them into lineups next to ball-dominant stars.
Philly would be a good fit for other older wings like Baylor Scheierman, Kevin McCullar Jr., Dillon Jones, Ryan Dunn, and Ajay Mitchell should any of them fall to 41. Each of them has skills that allow them to be ready-made contributors, though their age and respective weaknesses suggest that they don’t have much more room to grow as players. Bridges' path to playing time seems to be the cleanest of the bunch.
The Sixers' roster is so barren that really any player who has the chance to become a decent rotation player quickly will be a great selection at 41st overall. Bridges' talent and style of play give him a chance to do just that.
76ers sign multiple undrafted free agents
In last year’s draft, the Sixers didn't make any selections but did get right to work signing undrafted players. One of them was Ricky Council IV, who earned a standard deal by the end of the season. Another was Terquavion Smith, who put up some nice numbers in the G League. Expect more moves after the draft from Philly, too.
The UDFA pool offers another chance to take swings on young talent. Using two-way contracts on rookies to get them on a quicker pathway to the main roster is a smart move that paid off for the Sixers last season. For that to happen two years in a row would be incredible though unlikely.
The Sixers cast a wide net with their post-draft signings in 2023, signing an athletic wing (Council), a bucket-getting guard (Smith), and a slower, bigger center (Azuolas Tubelis, who was waived before the regular season). It would make sense for Philly to look for a center to sign to a UDFA deal, though any NBA-caliber player that can be found there at any position is a massive win.
Trentyn Flowers is a 19-year-old, 6-foot-7 wing who has tantalizing scoring potential and worked out for the Sixers in the pre-draft process. UConn guard Tristen Newton, a 23-year-old with a well-rounded set of skills fresh off two national championships, also worked out for Philly. Both players are projected to go deep in the draft if they even get selected at all. Philly's familiarity with both of them makes for a potential landing spot.
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