Now that the dust has settled on the trade deadline, Daryl Morey may need to pop back out of the dugout for one more curtain call. The Sixers GM was the clear winner of the NBA’s transaction frenzy. For months, critics such as myself were collectively staring at Morey, waiting for him to do something with Ben Simmons while Joel Embiid played at an MVP level. Morey endured his struggle session, waited for a star to grow disgruntled, then emerged on a tarmac with open arms as James Harden walked off a private jet.
But while the trade scrutiny may have ended the second Morey brought Harden in for a hug, a new pressure began that moment: The Sixers are now championship or bust.
Those expectations are a particularly important distinction for Philadelphia. There are times when the delicate art of building a contender calls for nuance. But the Sixers threw that all out of the window when Sam Hinkie, back in 2013, orchestrated perhaps the most blatant and thorough rebuild professional sports had ever seen. Hinkie never would’ve had to offer his coach $100,000 to lose a game; instead he basically told the whole world his plan—which bore fruit in the likes of Embiid and Simmons—until the NBA decided it didn’t have the stomach for it anymore.
