Like clockwork, the NBA trade season is unofficially back. This time it’s Giannis Antetokounmpo who is at the heart of the rumor mill, sending fans and pundits alike into an uproar after his camp was destroyed. reportedly the foundation has already been laid for what could be one of the most seismic trades in NBA history.
Teams with ample draft capital and a wealth of young talent will understandably be favored in winning a future Giannis sweepstakes. The Philadelphia 76ers have quite a few of those things themselves, but honestly, their realistic paths to a viable field for the two-time MVP are close to zero – it would be a big leap to consider them a key player for the superstar.
With teams like Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and presumably New York having much easier paths to coming to the table with Milwaukee’s brass toward a trade for Antetokounmpo, 76ers fans will probably just have to accept that the franchise will likely sit this one out unless they work extremely hard on their win-now edict and tender a young prospect like, say, VJ Edgecombe.
The 76ers could offer VJ Edgecombe to sweeten a hypothetical trade offer for Giannis
Disclaimer: This is in no way an advertisement for the 76ers to actually dangle Edgecombe away.
The 76ers still operate under a clear win-now mandate across the organization. The circumstances are tough, but there’s little doubt the front office will do what it takes to get them as close to contention as possible.
With Tyrese Maxey already looking like an MVP-caliber player in Year 6 as he slowly enters his prime, the 76ers need to act with more urgency to surround him with a much better group of players. And what better star to pair him with than one of the extremely few players who can be considered better than him, right?
Antetokounmpo will be perfect next to Maxey and vice versa. To get to that point, however, the 76ers will have to make a colossal sacrifice by parting ways with Edgecombe and paying a very rich price beyond that. The franchise seems to have settled on their Maxey-Edgecombe backcourt as the centerpiece of the franchise, but that combination won’t get Philly to the Finals anytime soon, not with the rookie still having a long way to go before he becomes a true star.
While this may not be popular for those who prefer the long game, the 76ers can maximize their championship chances if they go all in on Giannis, although the tough part outside their control is getting the Bucks to accept a trade package that includes Edgecombe, salary matchers with Joel Embiid or Paul George as the main equalizer, and a war chest of draft picks.
That just shows how elite Giannis Antetokounmpo is and how much guts the 76ers must have to go in that direction.
#76ers #shock #league #bold #Giannis #talk #requires #real #sacrifice