76ers: Daryl Morey Explains Difficulty of Trading This Year

The NBA trade deadline is quickly approaching. So far, the Philadelphia 76ers haven’t made any moves this season. Unlike last year, the Sixers aren’t expected to engage in any blockbuster deals. With the Ben Simmons saga in the rearview, and James Harden in Philly, the Sixers don’t have a reason to shake up the roster.

Outside of a big deal, though, there isn’t much discussion surrounding the Sixers. Once again, Tobias Harris was included in early rumors, but those talks have evaporated. At this point, the only two Sixers in trade rumors are Furkan Korkmaz and Jaden Springer, and even those talks seem minimal.

It’s hard for the Sixers to make a trade this season. On Friday, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey joined The Anthony Gargano Show on 97.5 The Fanatic to explain precisely why that is.

“Our only goal, we’ve had multiple meetings this week, we’re going into another meeting right after this call, on finding someone who can contribute to this team. It’s our job, but it is hard because we look around the league, and you say, ‘That guy is not better than our 11th guy who just won the game in Sacramento for us.’ It’s a harder year, but hey, we will find somebody, I think…If you overlap players that would play in our playoff rotation with the players that are available, esepcially with so many teams who feel they are in it with the play-in game and everything, it gets down to a very small group of players. It’s not zero but it’s not a big group of players.” (via Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire)

You could argue that this year’s Sixers roster is the most complete of the Joel Embiid era. There are two All-Stars in the starting five, along with a stellar veteran sharpshooter in Tobias Harris.

Then, the Sixers improved in the two-way department by adding veterans such as PJ Tucker and De’Anthony Melton. Off the bench, the Sixers have a rising star in Tyrese Maxey and a healthy Shake Milton, who is re-surging this year. Then, there’s the sharpshooter Georges Niang, the defensive ace Matisse Thybulle, and a backup center combination of Montrezl Harrell and Paul Reed.

No roster will ever be perfect, and improvements can always be made. But if the Sixers can’t find what they truly need to improve their current roster, which seems ready to contend, then there isn’t any reason to trade at all. Based on Morey’s explanation, it seems the Sixers have a very short list of players they could acquire. The front office doesn’t seem ready to remove itself from the trade market just yet, but there certainly isn’t a lot going on at the moment.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.