When the Philadelphia 76ers signed Al Horford to a 4-year $109 million deal in the offseason, the expectation was that he and Joel Embiid would form one of the most fearsome tandems in the league. However, that has not been the case as the offense has been very clunky and things have not worked out the way the team thought as they sit in the 6 seed in the East.
There has been a thought process out there that suggests the Sixers could trade Horford in the offseason despite his big-money deal, along with his declining play, and the Sacramento Kings have been a popular landing spot. The Kings had an interest in Horford in the offseason, so why not?
Bleacher Report conjured up a list of realistic trades in the offseason and they have a trade of Horford going to Sacramento for Harrison Barnes.
B/R:
Sacramento Receives: C Al Horford, 2021 second-round pick
Philadelphia Receives: F Harrison Barnes
The Horford experiment in Philly clearly isn’t working, and the Sixers would greatly benefit from instead having a wing who can shoot in their starting five.
Horford’s contract won’t be easy to offload, however, with three years and $81 million remaining after this season. The Sixers will likely have to take back some bad money, as well.
That’s where Barnes makes sense. The 27-year-old forward will have three years and $60.9 million left on his contract, a lower number than Horford but still a higher deal than his production (14.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 0.6 steals in 34.9 minutes per game) would warrant.
As mentioned above, the Horford and Embiid combination has not been helpful on offense. The team’s regular starting lineup of Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Horford, and Embiid only averaged 110.9 points per 100 possessions according to Cleaning the Glass.
That is mostly due to the lack of shooters on the roster and a guy like Barnes could help. He’s shooting 38.3% from deep with the Kings on the season and the Sixers could easily move Harris over to the power forward position, which is more of a natural position for him anyway. Barnes is more of a small forward who can play power forward as well and that versatility for Philadelphia would serve them greatly. [lawrence-related id=29519,29510,29492]