The Philadelphia 76ers’ war chest of assets is oftentimes mentioned when discussing them as a landing spot for a big name player in free agency. But when it comes to the 2018 NBA Draft, those assets — whether they be picks or players — could conceivably be used if Philly wants to jump up from No. 10.
Whether that ends up happening or not remains to be seen, but it turns out the idea was at least kicked around by the organization’s front office. The story comes via Michael Scotto of The Athletic, who wrote that the Sixers had an eye for Missouri forward Michael Porter Jr.
But with the team sitting at 10, it might have been hard to get him. So Scotto reports that the Sixers considered packaging that pick, the No. 26 pick, and Markelle Fultz to jump up.
The Philadelphia 76ers had internal discussions about packaging the No. 10 and 26 picks, along with former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz, to move into the top five, league sources told The Athletic. The target was Porter during these discussions. However, that thinking dampened with Porter’s back remaining a major question mark. If JJ Redick leaves in free agency, Fultz is the favorite to start at shooting guard.
There’s no indication of how far these internal discussions went, or if the Sixers were actively pitching this trade to other teams. However, there was a report a few days back that Philadelphia was looking into moving up for a top-5 player in the draft, so this does gel with what has been previously reported, even if it’s impossible to know for sure if that was also regarding Porter or if that was for someone like Luka Doncic.
Plus giving up all those assets — especially Fultz, who is still only 20 and despite his struggles is his rookie campaign — to move up five or six spots is a major (and, depending on who you ask, questionable) investment.
Regardless, a potentially interesting scenario could pop up, because it’s plausible that Porter falls down to No. 10, anyway. If this is true, the Sixers might have to decide if their trepidation regarding his medicals are worth the risk over other players at that juncture, which would certainly make their draft room an interesting place on Thursday night.
(Via The Athletic)
