Sixers President Defends Jared McCain Trade, Overall Trade Deadline Strategy

Sixers president Daryl Morey held his annual post-NBA trade deadline press conference Friday, and he immediately went on defense.

"I do wanna say that I understand the reaction of the fans," Morey said in his opening statement. "But I feel like that comes from, folks are excited about this team. That's why we've had this reaction."

The Sixers are getting largely roasted for ducking under the $187.9 million luxury-tax threshold for the fourth straight year. Morey claimed that the Sixers' ownership group gave them a green light to stay over the tax if they found a worthwhile addition, but "no deal materialized" because they "didn't find a deal that made sense, that we thought could move the needle on our ability to win this year."

Morey said that because the Sixers have been playing well, he was "trying to upgrade the team and add to the team now. That was goal No. 1." He specifically mentioned that the Sixers traded Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday—one day ahead of the trade deadline— because they were trying to reuse the picks they acquired for him "to add now."

"We think the draft picks we got will help us more in the future and could have helped us this deadline," Morey added. "The picks we got were offered to many teams, and nothing materialized for a player that we thought could move the needle with those picks now, but we feel like going forward, those picks will help us build the team in the future in a good way."

Why trade Jared McCain now?

Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports specifically asked Morey why the Sixers felt compelled to trade McCain now rather than during the offseason. The tax and apron savings are an obvious selling point, but Morey expressed confidence that McCain's value wasn't likely to rise any higher, either.

"I am quite confident we were selling high" on McCain, he said. "Obviously, time will tell. "We weren't looking to sell. I'll be frank. Teams came to us with aggressive offers for him. You could say, 'Yeah, that's because he's a good player.' I agree with that.

"We thought this return was above for the future value for our franchise what we could get. The only higher point would have during his run last season. But otherwise, we feel like we did time this well."

The Sixers got a 2026 first-round pick (likely from Houston) along with three future second-round picks from the Thunder for McCain. The only other players who fetched even a single first-rounder at the trade deadline were Jaren Jackson Jr., Anthony Davis and Ivica Zubac. Granted, no other team traded a high-upside player who's still only on the second year of his rookie contract, either.

"That return is for a starter-quality player on a good team," Morey said. "It's actually above that. We do a lot of analysis on how we think things will play out both here and around the league going forward in terms of the quality of play. What kinds of returns will return? What players in the future?

"The bottom line is, Jared's a player who is a great future bet and a potential great player. We wish him luck. We feel like this return sets us up better to set up the team in the future better.

"That doesn't address our team now. So, we did want to add now and it didn't happen. So I think that's a fair reaction. And I think it's a fair reaction, to go back to Kyle's point, 'Did you time this well? Is this a fair return?' All I can say is, we do a lot of work on this, and we think it was well above that, and well above what will help us down the road."

Morey hinted that the emergence of VJ Edgecombe accelerated their willingness to move on from McCain. With Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey forming the long-term starting backcourt, McCain figured to top out as a high-end backup in Philly.

"Our path here is a little bit muted relative to where his path could be on another team," Morey said. "It would be hard to get to starter quality, which is the return we got."

How the CBA impacted their approach

Last week, Joel Embiid pleaded with the Sixers' ownership and front office not to subtract from the team to get under the luxury tax. They didn't listen.

Joel Embiid, asked about keeping the team together at the trade deadline:

"In the past we've been ducking the tax, so hopefully we think about improving [the team at the deadline], because we got a chance."

"I hope that at least we get a chance to just go out and compete,… pic.twitter.com/QdCz3HlbL9
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) January 30, 2026

Even if the McCain trade sets the Sixers up better long-term, there's no telling how long Embiid will continue playing as his current level. Selling at the deadline rather than buying is a disappointing outcome with that in mind.

Morey did express confidence that the Sixers' ownership group would approve staying above the luxury-tax line if a move justified that cost, though.

"I understand the perception, and I hope to defeat it by finding a deal that I can go to ownership and say, 'We think this move is the right move to do for that and create the apron issues that it would create,'" Morey said. "But I haven't been able to recommend that move yet."

Morey did mention the first apron a few times throughout his press conference as the motivating factor for the Eric Gordon trade in particular.

"The Eric move was primarily to set up what we could do in Barlow," Morey said. "Not primarily, it was the only reason. It allowed us to get a guy that we found who's contributing in a very good way to not have to go to unrestricted free agency. We didn't think that was good business."

That's why we'll have to wait to see what else the Sixers have up their sleeve.

How Barlow factored into the deadline

Before the Sixers signed Barlow to his new contract, they were roughly $5.0 million below the luxury tax and $7.2 million below the first apron. Full details of Barlow's contract have yet to emerge, although Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports reported it contains a $3.4 million team option in 2026-27.

Since a minimum contract for someone with Barlow's years of NBA experience (four) is roughly $2.5 million this year and $2.8 million next year, the Sixers dipped into their mid-level exception to sign Barlow. The lingering question is whether they used the larger non-taxpayer mid-level exception or the smaller taxpayer MLE.

Deals signed via the taxpayer MLE are limited to two years at most with 5 percent annual raises, while deals signed via the non-taxpayer MLE can be up to four years with 8 percent annual raises. Using the non-taxpayer MLE to sign Barlow would hard-cap the Sixers at the $195.9 million first apron, while using the taxpayer MLE would hard-cap them at the $207.8 million second apron.

The contract that Barlow ultimately signed could fit into the taxpayer MLE, but it doesn't sound as though that was the Sixers' original plan.

"We were hoping to sign a longer deal, but what happens is, we didn't know we had the Eric deal that would make that deal possible,' Morey said. "So it got pretty rushed. We didn't give up much in that deal, it was like a swap of seconds, but we were only gonna do that if we worked out something with Dom.

"So in working with his representation, we took sort of a middle path, which is basically locking him in for next year at a good number, but with the ability to maybe work out something even better for both sides before we pick up a team option."

If the Sixers hoped to use part of their non-taxpayer MLE to sign Barlow to a three- or four-year deal, their proximity to the first apron would have been a legitimate reason to shed salary at the trade deadline. But they could have given Barlow the deal that he wound up signing with the taxpayer MLE even if they finished over the tax.

The Sixers' ensuing moves to fill their remaining two open roster spots will thus go a long way toward justifying their overall approach to the trade deadline. If they dip into the non-taxpayer MLE to sign an impact player on the buyout market, it will help explain why they needed to get this far below the first apron. If they only spend their taxpayer MLE, that will poke holes in their justification.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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