PHILADELPHIA — When confronted with a lack of options, one of the worst things any decision-maker can do is take one off the table. But that’s exactly what Daryl Morey must do as he attempts to build a functional roster with limited draft capital, limited payroll space, and a glaring need for the sorts of players who typically require copious amounts of both to acquire. Trading Tyrese Maxey cannot be an option.
If it sounds absurd to even mention a scenario in which the 76ers part ways with one of the three functional players they currently have under contract, you need to remember that there always has been a considerable degree of absurdity baked into the organization’s attempts to go from good to great. This was clear from the moment Brett Brown uttered the phrase that would come to define their failure to launch. It’s easy to forget that the former coach’s self-described period of “star hunting” initially was built on the idea that the mighty Sixers could convince one of the greatest players in NBA history to scrap his long-planned relocation to the Lakers. In a lot of ways, all of the disastrous moments of the last four years were foreshadowed by the cringeworthy amount of self-delusion Brown and his bosses betrayed by entertaining the notion that they could convince LeBron James to take his talents to the Wells Fargo Center. A megalomaniac without the mega is an easy thing to ignore.
Despite the obvious folly of the Sixers’ star-hunting phase, there remains a school of thought that says the mission is not yet complete. It’s a school of thought that views still-developing players like Maxey as assets whose value lies first and foremost in their ability to facilitate the acquisition of an established, veteran star. It views the tandem of James Harden and Joel Embiid not as a foundation upon which to build a functional rotation, but as two-thirds of that elusive superstar triumvirate, one big piece away from legitimacy. The Sixers are not a construction project. They are a waiting room for Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard or some other singular talent with the ability to swoop in and save the day. At least, that’s the school of thought.
