While the appeal of acquiring a star-caliber player via trade is one that’s tough to ignore, it seems not everyone is entirely buying into the idea that the 76ers should go that route. Most recently, former guard Lou Williams made the pitch for Philadelphia not to “shake that tree” by bringing in another star.
Interestingly, Williams also made the argument that the 76ers already have a third star in Tobias Harris, which has been a hot-button topic in recent years.
“Philadelphia’s right there in the mix of being a top-three, top-four team in the East, I think they’re going to stay pat right there, so with that said, you don’t really want to shake that tree. You don’t really want to create too much difference in the locker room by trying to bring in another guy,” Williams said on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back show.
“And you have one [a third star], you’ve got Tobias Harris. He’s giving them 18.5 points, that’s a third star to me. If he can bottle that up, be consistent, I think you’re in a great spot for your basketball team.”
Williams also praised Marcus Morris for giving the 76ers good minutes off the bench as well.
"Philadelphia is right there in the mix of being a top 3, top 4 team in the east...I think they're in a good spot, I say don't bother it."@TeamLou23 doesn't think the Sixers need a 3rd star, Tobias Harris is already that guy off the bench 🙌 pic.twitter.com/jHtn4SU1gh
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) November 28, 2023
Williams makes a few good points here and with Philadelphia currently boasting a 12–5 record, they’re just 1.5 games back of the Celtics for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
The argument for Harris is also compelling, as the 31-year-old has been playing arguably his best basketball over the past three seasons. He’s currently averaging his highest points per game since the 2020–21 season and is having the best year of his career thus far in terms of overall shooting percentage, knocking down 52.7% of his attempts from the field.
While Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are the headliners and have shown the upside to be one of the NBA’s top duos, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the 76ers approach any potential trade.
