Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers is going to be frequently mentioned in trade talks this season for multiple teams, but that doesn’t mean every team has a realistic shot at him. Enter the New York Knicks, who could put together a trade package of Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Evan Fournier, and Mitchell Robinson along with two to three first-round picks in a potential trade for Embiid, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
If this is truly the Knicks’ best trade package, or even the one that New York thinks will be enough to land Joel Embiid, Daryl Morey can send New York’s calls straight to voicemail. This isn’t even close.
Why New York’s trade offer to Sixers for Joel Embiid wouldn’t work
Even if we aren’t living in a universe where Rudy Gobert was just traded for four first-round picks, a pick swap, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, and more last year, this is still a ridiculous offer for the reigning league MVP. Joel Embiid is a two-way star who is legitimately a top-5 player in the league who hasn’t hit 30 yet. Any trade offer for him needs to blow the recent deals for stars — including Paul George and Rudy Gobert — out of the water in order for Philadelphia to bite.
Even if Embiid demanded out of Philadelphia, which he hasn’t done, New York’s hypothetical trade offer would be laughable. Julius Randle isn’t anywhere near good enough to be a top-two star on a real legitimate contender, and Philadelphia would only trade Embiid if they were entering a full rebuild. Randle and his long-term deal would only make the Sixers mediocre, which is the last thing they’d want to be.
R.J. Barrett has the potential to be a solid rotation player, but four years into his career he’s a relatively inefficient scorer who doesn’t play to his strengths or distribute well enough to be a high-usage player. Mitchell Robinson is a middle-of-the-road center with clear limitations in a league that’s shifting more to 5-out spacing, despite being on a valuable contract. Evan Fournier is strictly a salary.
When trading the league MVP, getting someone with the potential to eventually become a top-20 player in the league would be nice. Everyone but Barrett is a known entity, and Barrett’s ceiling isn’t anywhere close to that level. Philadelphia would essentially be relying on New York not to be competitive for a long time, which is a little bit of an issue since they’d be handing them one of the best players in the entire league before he turns 30.
Trading Embiid in conference to a rival would be brazen enough — getting back a terrible package with no high-end potential outside of the draft picks would be even worse.
It’s understandable that contending teams would want Embiid, especially during all the turmoil brought on by the neverending James Harden saga. Getting rid of Philadelphia as a title contender is a bonus as well. But it’s important to understand that Embiid would only get dealt for an unprecedented trade package, as Philadelphia would be willingly slamming shut the title window during the reigning MVP’s prime. Teams don’t do that lightly.
There are teams that could realistically make offers that at least would land on the Sixers’ radar. The Oklahoma City Thunder could dangle some combination of Chet Holmgren, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, the salary of Davis Bertans, and five or six first-round picks to pair Embiid with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and crush any other team’s best offer.
The bottom line is this: the Knicks don’t have the combination of current roster talent and future draft capital to make a realistic play for Joel Embiid. Unless Embiid holds the franchise hostage and demands to play in New York, anything resembling the hypothetical trade package above won’t even get a conversation going with the Sixers.
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