What the Sixers' Trade Deadline Moves Say About Their Playoff Belief

Last week, Joel Embiid pleaded with the Sixers' ownership group and front office not to cut costs and duck the luxury tax at the expense of the roster at the NBA trade deadline.

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

They didn't listen.

On Wednesday, the Sixers traded Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2026 first-round pick (likely from the Rockets) and three future second-rounders. On Thursday, they salary-dumped Eric Gordon onto the Memphis Grizzlies by agreeing to a 2032 second-round pick swap. They did not bring back a player in either deal.

The Sixers already filled one of their three open roster spots by signing two-way forward Dominick Barlow to a standard contract. They've temporarily filled the other two with 10-day signings Charles Bassey and Patrick Baldwin Jr., although they're expected to explore the buyout market for a more permanent solution.

While the Sixers wound up being sellers rather than buyers, team president Daryl Morey insisted Friday that they "were trying to upgrade the team and add to the team now." However, he said they "didn't find a deal that made sense, that we thought could move the needle on our ability to win this year."

Reaction to the Sixers' moves has been largely negative, as from the outside, it looks as though they dumped a second-year guard with upside in part to duck the luxury tax. However, Morey insisted that McCain's departure wasn't likely to derail their season.

"For this deadline, I understand the reaction that we didn't add," he said. "But I feel like if folks were excited about the team before, the same group that they were excited about before is going out there, obviously save Jared. But we feel like with [Trendon] Watford and other guys stepping up that we can not miss a beat with the players we have on the roster."

Sixers not sweating other East challengers

Heading into Saturday's game against the Phoenix Suns, the Sixers are currently sixth in the East at 29-22. They're only 1.5 games behind the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, and they're 2.5 games ahead of the seventh-seeded Orlando Magic.

The Cavaliers embarked upon a major shakeup at the deadline, sending De'Andre Hunter to Sacramento for Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis and then flipping Darius Garland and a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden. The New York Knicks (Jose Alvarado) and Detroit Pistons (Kevin Huerter) made more minor moves, while the Boston Celtics flipped Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vučević en route to ducking the tax.

Morey seemed nonplussed by those moves.

"We like our chances in the East," he said. "We feel like we're in the mix with the top teams. Obviously, we've gotta prove that on the court. I'm just reiterating, we were hoping to add and we didn't add. But we still believe in this team. It's still the team that people believed in.

"Folks have speculated on the improvements of our East competitors. I don't see it, personally. I think all the teams made moves at the deadline, but there weren't any needle-movers, in my opinion."

Gordon played only 74 total minutes across six games all year, so his departure won't materially affect the Sixers. If anything, freeing up his roster spot to spend on a free agent who recently got bought out could be an upgrade. McCain is a different story, though.

What the McCain trade signals

After catching the league by storm as a rookie, McCain has struggled to recapture that form this season. Morey described him Friday as "someone who is more likely to help a team in the future."

McCain is averaging only 6.6 points on 38.5 percent shooting this season. The Sixers remained patient with him and tried to get him going, but nothing took hold consistently until perhaps as of late. And with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe firmly ensconced as the starting backcourt moving forward, McCain didn't have a realistic pathway to a starting job.

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

Still, Morey acknowledged that he understood fans' frustration at the Sixers' lack of additions at the deadline.

"The bottom line is, Jared's a player who is a great future bet and a potential great player," he said. "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."

The loss of McCain puts even more on Maxey, Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes in the backcourt. Maxey is already playing a league-leading 38.8 minutes per game, while Edgecombe isn't far behind him at 35.7.

Edgecombe still hasn't hit the typical rookie wall, and with Paul George suspended until late March, the Sixers can't afford him doing so anytime soon. Because at the moment, the only two guards behind Maxey and Edgecombe are Grimes and 40-year-old Kyle Lowry. The Sixers can lean into their forward depth and shy away from three-guard lineups, but one ill-timed injury to Maxey or Edgecombe would leave them perilously thin in the backcourt. That's an area that they could/should look to address in the buyout market.

Without knowing how the Sixers will ultimately fill their final two roster spots, it's hard to say exactly how much better or worse their playoff outlook is now compared to it was prior to the trade deadline. Gordon makes zero difference, but McCain could have become an impactful bench piece.

Even without McCain, Morey is confident in this team's ability to make some noise this season.

"I do want folks to know that this team we think can make a deep playoff run and is one of the top few teams of the East," he said. "We feel like that's still the case going forward. We were very careful to make sure that the core parts of the rotation were intact."