Revisiting the Jared McCain Trade: How the Thunder Fleeced the 76ers for a Crucial Playoff Piece

Jared McCain has been key to the Thunder’s playoff run—and he cost OKC almost nothing in the trade that brought him to town. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

With Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both battling injuries ahead of a crucial Game 5 between the Thunder and Spurs, Oklahoma City had an empty slot in the starting lineup. The basketball world was left to wonder: who would coach Mark Daigneault tap to round out his starting five? Perhaps Alex Caruso, the all-world role player who has been shooting the lights out against San Antonio. Or maybe Cason Wallace, the league leader in steals this season who earned his first All-Defense nod.

Instead, Daigneault went with the newest member of the team—and it was the right decision.

Jared McCain, acquired at this year’s trade deadline from the 76ers, was called upon to enter the starting lineup. To that point he’d been great off the bench as a perimeter creator for the Thunder and was the hero of Game 3’s win. Daigneault’s decision to start him was not without inherent risks; McCain had done most of his damage handling the ball and would be tasked with playing off Shai Gilgeous-Alexander instead as a member of the starting five.

But of course there was no reason to worry. This is the Thunder, the defending champs who have hit every right note for two seasons straight.

McCain played well once more in his first-ever playoff start. He scored 20 points on 7-for-19 shooting, including 3-for-9 from three. He held his own on defense against a Spurs team filled with outstanding athletes and one freakishly tall superstar. It wasn’t his best game in a Thunder uniform—but for a guy making his third appearance in the starting lineup since coming to OKC in the most important game of the season, McCain stepped up huge.

It is reflective of his continuous contributions to the championship favorites. Without McCain the Thunder might not be in this position—there are at least two games we can point to and say that McCain swung the tide to lead OKC to a win. The 22-year-old has fundamentally altered the championship race with his play to this point—and he barely cost his new team anything.

How did this happen? How, exactly, did an already-loaded Thunder team snatch a big-time playoff piece from another Eastern conference postseason contender for a pittance? Let’s revisit the February trade that brought McCain to town from Philadelphia, negotiated between OKC GM Sam Presti and Sixers president Daryl Morey, who parted ways with the organization after the team was swept by the Knicks in the second round.

Thunder-76ers Jared McCain trade terms

Jared McCain had some big moments in his season-plus with the 76ers, but was stuck behind Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe earlier this season. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

First, we break down the terms of the deal that would affect the championship race.

On February 4, the 76ers traded McCain to the Thunder. In exchange, OKC sent back four draft picks—the Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick (which wound up No. 22 overall), a 2027 second-round pick, and two 2028 second-round picks. The 2027 second will be the best of the Thunder, Pacers, Rockets and Heat picks; one 2028 second will come from OKC and the other will come from Milwaukee.

Philadelphia didn’t own a pick in the first round of the 2026 draft until this trade. Why? Because of a previous trade with ... the Thunder! Back in 2020, one of Morey’s first moves as the leader of the Philly front office was to trade Al Horford and two picks (including the 2026 first-rounder) to OKC in exchange for Danny Green. Presti’s fingerprints are everywhere.

In summation: the Sixers traded 22-year-old McCain with two years left on his deal for a handful of draft picks, only one of which will land in the first round.

Why the 76ers traded McCain

Which brings us to the biggest question—regardless of the return, why did the 76ers trade McCain? He was a first-round pick in the 2024 draft and played well as a rookie before suffering a meniscus injury that cut short his first season. Beyond that context it’s a fair thing to wonder after watching him ball out in high-leverage situations as part of a tight conference finals.

We have our own thoughts on this matter. But to start, here’s what Morey said after the deal.

“We see Jared as someone who is more likely to help a team in the future,” he said. “I think he has a bright future. We thought that the draft picks we got will help us more in the future and could have helped us this deadline. The picks we got were offered to many teams and nothing materialized for a player we thought could move the needle with those picks now. But we felt going forward those picks will help us build the team in the future in a good way.”

Taking away the benefit of hindsight it’s a somewhat reasonable explanation. The Sixers didn’t have many draft assets to add to the roster and so gave up McCain to restock that cabinet. The 76ers also had a financial incentive to move on from McCain, even at his relatively meager salary. The trade with OKC, in which they didn’t take back any players, snuck Philly under the luxury tax.

Unfortunately, later that same press conference, Morey gave out an all-time bad quote that will haunt the franchise for years to come even though he’s already gone.

Morey was asked directly why he felt the need to trade McCain this season if he didn’t have a deal in place to utilize the assets he got in return for McCain.

“I appreciate that perspective,” Morey responded. “I am quite confident we were selling high. Obviously time will tell. We weren’t looking to sell, I’ll be frank. Teams came to us with aggressive offers for him. ... We thought this return was above, for the future value of our franchise, what we can get. The only higher point would have been during his run last season. Otherwise we do feel like we did time this well.”

It’s only been a few months and that quote has already aged like milk. A player capable of playing serious playoff minutes for a championship contender is worth a lot more than what the Thunder gave up for McCain. That kind of player who is only in his second NBA season with plenty of natural scoring talent and room to grow yet? For certain teams, the 76ers could have named their price.

McCain’s long-term fit in Philadelphia was murky. Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe are the future backcourt and both are somewhat similar to McCain as smaller guards who can score. Moving McCain to clear up that logjam is a defensible move, especially given he struggled immensely to start his sophomore campaign; at the time of the trade McCain was scoring 6.6 points per game while shooting below 40% on two-point shots.

Now, though, the move looks hasty and short-sighted.

It’s clear the Thunder fleeced the 76ers

Ex-76ers president Daryl Morey’s explanation for the Jared McCain trade has not aged well as the reserve guard has come up big for the Thunder against the Spurs. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

As if the rich needed to get richer, this is proving to be a more brilliant move by OKC with each passing day.

McCain has saved the Thunder’s bacon on a few occasions this playoff run. That alone makes him worth the picks the front office gave up for him—and those picks were nearly worthless to OKC anyway. The Thunder were slated to own three first-rounders in this draft and gave up the worst one to Philadelphia. They even managed to keep the Sixers’ own pick, which finished higher than the one they gave up! Second-round picks are useful currency to push deals across the finish line but are effectively worthless to OKC considering the franchise owns the rights to 13 first-round picks in the next six years and even more second-rounders. They won’t possibly be able to carry all of those players.

In the bigger picture, he’s a perfect fit for what this roster needs. The only “flaw” of last year’s championship team was a lack of pure scorers outside SGA and Williams. Mitchell’s emergence this year helped fix that issue and McCain officially solved it. At 22 he’s on the right timeline, and with two team options in the next two seasons he won’t make more than $6.8. million annually. McCain is good, young, cheap and fills a need for his team. That is the perfect player for a team trying to annually compete for championships. And the Thunder barely gave up anything to get him.

On top of it all, McCain has assimilated into the locker room without any trouble at all.

“I think he's a special human being,” Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein said after Game 5’s win on Tuesday night. “I think just in general, no one will change the way he is. I've never seen someone so happy every single day.”

What a deal by Presti, and what a fumble by Morey. The 76ers didn’t sell high on McCain—they sold low. Possibly as low as they could have considering how good he was as a rookie and how his early-season struggles seem to be merely a blip rather than a defining stretch of his career.

OKC is reaping the rewards and McCain has a chance to play a big role in pushing the Thunder to a second straight Finals appearance. All from one Feburary trade.

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