The Sixers traded a guy who isn’t even on a team
(Update, 2/19: Ronnie Levi, who works for the agency that represents Maduabum tells SI.com that he has signed with a team in Mongolia.)
Sixers Sam Hinkie did what he does best on Thursday, absorbing a veteran’s contract into Philadelphia’s ample cap space in order to receive yet another second-round pick.
Philly gets Joel Anthony and a 2017 second-rounder from the Rockets, but they have to give Houston something in return. That’s where Chukwudiebere Maduabum comes in.
Maduabum (you may recognize him as the star of last year’s All-NBA Trade Deadline Second Team) was a second-round pick by the Lakers in 2011. They traded him on draft day to the Nuggets, who shipped him to Philly at the deadline last year. The 6'9" forward has played eight D-League games over three seasons, plus stints in his native Nigeria, Qatar, Estonia, Mongolia and Finland.
He was cut loose by his Finnish team in November, had a tryout with a team in Poland but didn’t get a contract offer.
• Quiz: Insanely difficult NBA trade trivia
After he was sent home, the club’s Twitter account even make a joke about the announcers being happy they wouldn’t have to pronounce his name.
He eventually signed on with a Mongolian team.
Luckily for Maduabum, he’s only 24, so there’s plenty of time for him to fulfill his NBA dream.
- Dan Gartland
