Star center Joel Embiid made a public plea to the Philadelphia 76ers prior to the NBA trade deadline.
Embiid wanted to see Philadelphia’s front office keep the nucleus of the team together, but he also wanted to see the team try to improve at the deadline, as opposed to simply shedding salary in the name of ducking the luxury tax.
“Obviously, we’ve been ducking the tax the past couple of years. So hopefully we’ll keep the same team. I love all the guys that are in here. So I think we got a shot,” Embiid said following Philadelphia’s recent 113-111 win over the Sacramento Kings.
“… I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I hope that at least we get a chance to just go out and compete, because we got a good group of guys in this locker room, and the vibes are great. Like I said, In the past we’ve been ducking the tax, so hopefully we think about improving, because we got a chance.”
More: Tyrese Maxey reacts to 76ers’ decision to trade Jared McCain
So, what did the Sixers do? They made two moves to shed salary and get below the tax line. They traded Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Eric Gordon to the Memphis Grizzlies.
They added several future draft picks in the two trades, but they did literally nothing to improve or upgrade the roster for the remainder of the current campaign.
In fact, an argument could be made that they actively got worse by trading away two depth pieces in McCain and Gordon. The Sixers are now dangerously thin in the backcourt.
With so much salary tied up in the trio of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, the Sixers were always going to have limited paths to truly raise the ceiling of the team without moving one of those three players, which the team wasn’t looking to do.
But, to see the team make zero moves in the name of improvement when the Eastern Conference feels as wide open as it’s been in years has to be disheartening for Sixers fans, and probably for Embiid, too.
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