As the Philadelphia 76ers head into the offseason, the focus must be on improving the roster around Joel Embiid and James Harden to contend for a title in the East properly.
As it stands, the Boston Celtics, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Miami Heat are the three teams that appear to be standing in their way of making the NBA Finals at the moment. Those teams have more complete rosters than Philadelphia at the moment and the Sixers have to play a bit of a catch-up.
One route to try and improve the roster is through trades and one team that has popped up has been the Toronto Raptors, who Philadelphia defeated in Round 1 of the playoffs. There appear to be some dissatisfied players in Toronto, most notably OG Anunoby who would be a perfect fit in Philadelphia.
An Eastern Conference executive sat down with Heavy and he began structuring a trade that would get Anunoby to Philadelphia:
“He is not going to come cheap, and I would not say they’re committed to moving him.” The exec told Devenney. “First thing the Raptors will say is Tyrese Maxey, then probably (Matisse) Thybulle. Send Danny Green back to Toronto. Then the Raptors will be looking for a pick, too, and the Sixers are just mostly spent on picks.”
For the Sixers, he is exactly what they’re looking for. Long defensive player, he can shoot the three, guard multiple positions. For Daryl Morey, he’s a dream player, he takes everything from the three-point line or in near the rim. Just what you want. For Joel Embiid, he’d be a dream player because he can space the floor, he can guard the perimeter, you can’t post him up. He is a better version of Robert Covington, really
The Sixers can trade their 2022 first-round draft pick even though their 2023 first-rounder belongs to the Brooklyn Nets. They can agree to a deal in principle before the draft, select a player on behalf of the team they made the deal with, and then make the trade complete then.
Anunoby only played 48 games in the 2021-22 season due to a slew of injuries, but he averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and he shoots 37.2% from deep for his career. He would solve a lot of issues for the Sixers if they can make a deal for him.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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