Should Anyone on the Sixers Be Untouchable?

Trade talks are once again heating up, especially for the three most desired guys on the Philadelphia 76ers wish list. The Portland Trail Blazers seem committed to the tank, trading away assets, losing games and Damian Lillard is not currently playing. The Washington Wizards have, predictably, fallen out of a playoff spot, and as of right now aren’t even in the play-in and Bradley Beal’s future there looks more and more tenuous each day. It seems he doesn’t want to be there and the Wizards aren’t sure they want him for a long term deal. The Brooklyn Nets are on a seven game losing streak, Kyrie Irving seems mercurial as ever and James Harden has seemed disgruntled and doesn’t want to commit to a re-sign ahead of his free agency. These players are as open as they have been all season, and with the trade deadline approaching that’s a good thing. There is one thing that seems to be holding up though, and that’s Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers unwillingness to give up much more than Ben Simmons. Should guys like Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle be untouchable though?

The Case for James Harden

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Harden is the crown jewel of the Sixers’ trade prospects, so much so that the earlier article about the 76ers trade wish list didn’t mention him because it didn’t seem like a realistic move. Why would the Nets give the Sixers the ideal partner to Embiid? Regardless, it seems real traction is being made to try and obtain Harden, mostly centered around Harden’s displeasure with the organization/team right now (although there are conflicting reports) and the fact that he can walk in free agency. The line of thinking goes, why not get something for Harden before he leaves for free? Simmons is also kind of a perfect fit with the Nets. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands and won’t take shots from Kevin Durant or Irving, and he adds elite point-of-attack defending. His rebounding and transition skills are never a waste either. 

Because of the free agency situation though, the Sixers seem unwilling to part with much more assets than Simmons alone, and especially Tyrese Maxey who is really growing into something special with the Sixers. Two different reports specifically mention Maxey as a complete no-sell. While this may be Daryl Morey playing mind games and smoke-screening, and, sure don’t give up assets if you don’t have to, but Simmons alone is not worth James Harden, and Maxey is not be valuable enough to not go after him. 

Harden has been one of the best players in the league the past decade. He is everything the Sixers could ever want. A prodigious isolation scorer that has also been one of the leading assisters is EXACTLY what Joel Embiid and the 76ers need. You don’t get a chance to pair two top ten players in the league very often, especially ones that fit together so perfectly, and if given the chance you have to take that. Harden and Embiid together is the championship favorite, and with Embiid’s injury history the future is not that important. The window is open right now, and it could shut any second. With the addition of Harden, Tobias Harris can slide back into the third-option role where he thrives, and the Sixers’ offense would absolutely be top-two in the league minimum. 

As good as Maxey is, there is almost no chance he ever reaches Harden’s level. He is in many ways, literally half the player Harden was just two years ago. That’s not a slight on Maxey, it’s just how special Harden was and is. Maxey could continue to level up, and there is an ever so slight chance a dynasty with the Sixers young core is possible, but the chance is infinitesimal. There’s a much higher chance that they never come close to sniffing a ring. The Harden-Embiid Sixers, however, will be champion favorites until one of those two declines massively which could be 2-3 years at least. Winning just one ring would be the ultimate prize, and one in the hand is worth much more than two in the bush. Look at the Milwaukee Bucks, who gave up a king’s ransom for Jrue Holiday (a lesser player to Harden) and won the only chip they really need for the next decade. Maxey cannot be considered untouchable for James Harden, a man that has a better career than Embiid himself. 

The Case for Bradley Beal

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Before the bombshell that was the James Harden news, it looked like Bradley Beal was the target of choice. He’s another guy that could walk at the end of the season, and the Wizards’ timeline doesn’t really match up with Beals’, so they might as well get what they can. For Beal, both Maxey and Thybulle have been seen as non-negotiables. While Beal is not James Harden, he is still one of the best pure scorers in the league and Beal would still be the best running mate Embiid has ever had. He’s also younger than Harden and Lillard and matches up age-wise with Embiid the best. For all the same reasons Maxey should not be the roadblock to getting Harden, he should not stop the Sixers from getting Beal, as Embiid and Beal together would still have an incredibly high ceiling. Maxey also shares the position of lead guard (both scoring and ball-handling) with the three ideal Embiid partners. 

The other piece here is Thybulle. He is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, and more importantly the only true positive perimeter defender on the team. Despite that he is also not important enough to stop a trade for a true superstar. If the choice had to be made between Simmons and Maxey or Thybulle however, the Sixers should keep Thybulle of the two. Maxey is for sure the better player now, and has the potential to be even better whereas Thybulle is probably pretty maxed out as he is. Thybulle is more valuable to the Sixers though, simply because of fit. As mentioned before, Lillard, Beal and Harden would probably all do what Maxey is doing right now just better. Having both on the team wouldn’t be bad, and Maxey running the second unit is a fine prospect, but there are diminishing returns. None of those three guys are good defenders, while Thybulle is elite and once again, the only good point-of-attack defender on the team with Simmons out of the picture. Everyone saw the job he did hounding Stephen Curry a month ago, and everyone also saw the way Seth Curry was abused by the Atlanta Hawks in last year’s playoffs. Thybulle brings a currently irreplaceable skillset to this team, while Maxey, despite being a superior overall player, is replaceable by the very person he would be traded for. Neither should be untouchable, probably not both either especially in Harden’s case, but Thybulle is more valuable to the team, and honestly Maxey should have much more value than Thybulle to any of these teams trading away their star guard except maybe the Nets. 

The Case for Damian Lillard

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All of what was said for the above two guys also applies to Damian Lillard. While trade news has not come up as much for Lillard recently, the trade the Trail Blazers did make seems to be signaling they are calling it quits on the Lillard-McCollum era and are starting a rebuild. The 31-year old Lillard should want no part of that, and the Blazers also shouldn’t want him to be a part of that. A trade then, should be on the cards, and a Maxey-Simmons duo is actually quite an amazing set of assets to restart with. Lillard has an argument as one of the top three-point marksmen of all-time and just like Harden and Beal would pair quite nicely with Embiid. In an era of pairs, it would be quite hard to name a definitively better one than any of those two next to Embiid, and that’s what the Sixers need to go for now. Not pipe dreams of what Maxey could become, but a real, definitive shot at the city’s first title since 1983. We don’t know how long Embiid has MVP-level play in him so the time to strike is now. No one, bar Embiid himself, should be untouchable for a super-star to pair with him, even if they are as promising as Maxey or as singularly talented as Thybulle. Morey has a chance right now to create a championship favorite, and no one on the roster is worth giving that up.