The Philadelphia 76ers suddenly are the most interesting team in the NBA. Thanks to a number of reports that say the team wants to move to the No. 1 spot in the NBA Draft and select Washington guard Markelle Fultz, Philly looks like it could be a juggernaut in the not-too-distant future.
In addition to Fultz—a dynamic scoring guard who would fill arguably the team’s biggest need—the 76ers’ core currently consists of last year’s No. 1 pick in Ben Simmons and Rookie of the Year candidates Joel Embiid and Dario Saric. On Saturday, those last two came together to make their pitch to the franchise to do what it needs to do to get Fultz.
Fultz is traveling to Philadelphia for a workout on Saturday, which was rumored for a day and eventually confirmed by the franchise. Embiid and Saric are apparently hanging around the team’s facility prior to his workout, because Embiid tweeted this.
Trust The Process pic.twitter.com/LLNzDiBWpc
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 17, 2017
We really can’t blame Embiid for wanting this to happen, both because it would be the latest step forward in “The Process” and because a core of Fultz, Saric, Simmons, and Embiid is terrifying. Plus Embiid always looks for reasons to remind everyone that they should trust the process, and he enjoys being silly on social media, so it’s not exactly a shock that he posted this.
Anyway, there’s still a few things that need to occur before a trade happens. For example, there are rumblings that Philadelphia and Boston may wait until the night of the Draft to do a deal just in case the Los Angeles Lakers do something unforeseen. But if everything works out, Thursday night will end with Fultz will be a Sixer, Boston being in a position to make a run at Jimmy Butler, and Embiid’s faith in the process being at an all-time high.
