Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Yeah I think they honestly should just stick with The Gallery. Bringing back that old 80's logo combined with the Spectrum-ish fonts would look pretty good.
I'm for any reason to boost SEPTA/public trans funding.
I don't see why it would be an issue from the city's perspective since it's completely privately financed. Plus I think they'd welcome 12k people coming to Center City 40+ nights a year, especially that area which has a big influx of bars and restaurants.
They obviously need significant improvements to suburban station to make it happen, but that should happen regardless.
The city of Philadelphia has been screwing things up for as long as we've been alive. Believe me, they will find a way. lol
Yeah they really shit the bed having the chance to move the ballpark, too. All that should be down at the Sports Complex is a football stadium.
Pittsburgh really is a great location and perfect way to place a ballpark. I would've loved to see CBP have a Camden Riversharks-like setup with the bridge and skyline lording over the top.
Yeah they really shit the bed having the chance to move the ballpark, too. All that should be down at the Sports Complex is a football stadium.
Pittsburgh really is a great location and perfect way to place a ballpark. I would've loved to see CBP have a Camden Riversharks-like setup with the bridge and skyline lording over the top.
Something like that, but I would put home plate on the river side, scoreboard to left field - bridge and skyline behind it - third base line running the river.
Agree Juggs - I liked The Gallery idea. You could even squeeze in a corporate sponsor with it. "The Rich White Guys Bank Gallery"
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I think all baseball fields have to face the same direction because of the sun. I don't know if that third base line going down the river would've worked
I think all baseball fields have to face the same direction because of the sun. I don't know if that third base line going down the river would've worked
That's funny, looked it up and this is pretty interesting. Obviously to keep the sun out of the batters eye. Pretty cool graphic:
I don't see why it would be an issue from the city's perspective since it's completely privately financed. Plus I think they'd welcome 12k people coming to Center City 40+ nights a year, especially that area which has a big influx of bars and restaurants.
They obviously need significant improvements to suburban station to make it happen, but that should happen regardless.
The city of Philadelphia has been screwing things up for as long as we've been alive. Believe me, they will find a way. lol
Yeah, I get that, but the sixers aren’t staying in that arena, they don’t want to be there now and if they are going to privately fund an arena that will bring 12k people to center city, at minimum 40 times a year plus concerts and other events, not sure how you don’t do everything to make that happen
I don't see why it would be an issue from the city's perspective since it's completely privately financed. Plus I think they'd welcome 12k people coming to Center City 40+ nights a year, especially that area which has a big influx of bars and restaurants.
They obviously need significant improvements to suburban station to make it happen, but that should happen regardless.
The city of Philadelphia has been screwing things up for as long as we've been alive. Believe me, they will find a way. lol
Yeah, I get that, but the sixers aren’t staying in that arena, they don’t want to be there now and if they are going to privately fund an arena that will bring 12k people to center city, at minimum 40 times a year plus concerts and other events, not sure how you don’t do everything to make that happen
In theory, it all makes sense. Absolutely. My doubts remain, however.
Yeah exactly things could be solved pretty quickly in a lot of areas in Philadelphia but doesn't mean it's gonna happen. Honestly think it's just a negotiation tactic for their lease. There's more than enough parking in the area, my actual concern is SEPTA and Sixers working together to ramp up the infrastructure already there (i.e. you should automatically get a Septa Key card with your ticket, increased frequency of trains, buses, etc etc).
It's hard to exaggerate just how annoying the SEPTA Key thing is considering you used to be able to just buy a bunch of tokens and go wherever with your parents, kids, friends, whatever. It's a HUGE incentive to drive and park in Center City.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I see no chance they stay in the Wells Fargo center 10 years from now. They’ve wanted out since day 1 and I think we’re gonna see more and more of the nba specific arenas like golden state
And I get what you’re saying. Just think it makes too much sense but I could see it not happening
I think Key's pretty awesome but could be way better. Or the actual Sixers ticket's bar code could work. Again, like a lot of things, there's pretty much an easy fix to these things. Would be great if this whole system also had the option of just using your phone like in other cities. SEPTA on the whole is a pretty awesome transit beast for the amount of area it covers, but again it could be light years better. Things I'd love to see happen w/ SEPTA:
Broad Street Line extended through the Navy Yard and go to the airport - some people think this is superfluous but I really think this would be huuuuge.
More and more and more and more buses. Everywhere.
More buses.
Turn more buses into electrified buses with one of those trolley-like electric wire jawns overhead so they can basically run infinitely.
Rip out more parking and car lanes for bus-only lanes.
Run regional rail with more frequency (I know this is tough because basically all of the rails they run on are privately owned by CSX, etc)
Did I mention more buses?
On the city's part - I want congestion pricing and taxing yesterday.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
The only thing as surprising that people thinking the Sixers wlll build a stadium in the city instead of Camden is people still watch wrestling. I can’t believe any rational people believes either
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Philadelphia 76ers fans received a little bit of an unexpected mid-August jolt of excitement on Wednesday when Ian Begley of SNY reported that the Kevin Durant would welcome a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers.
So what happens now? Well, it’s worth noting that, in addition to Boston, Durant also sees Philadelphia as another welcome landing spot, per people familiar with the matter.
The report also said that the Sixers felt strongly about engaging with the Nets on a Durant trade. Which is obvious (Sixers front office execs have eyes, so therefore have interest in Durant), but worth noting as well.
Should the Sixers be willing to trade Maxey for Durant? Do the Sixers have enough to to actually land Durant? Let's break it down.
Would I give up Tyrese Maxey for Kevin Durant?
Yes.
This has become a point of contention in Sixers Twitter since the report initially came out, and I get the reasons, both emotional and logical, why some would be hesitant to trade Maxey for virtually anyone, Kevin Durant included. Maxey is young (still just 21), and improved by leaps and bounds last year. With still two years left on his rookie contract and a lot of theoretical team control left thanks to the NBA's restricted free agency rules Maxey could be a building block of the Sixers franchise over the next decade, or longer.
On top of that, there's the emotional angle of being a fan, of watching the homegrown kid unexpectedly develop into a force in the league, and the almost romantic notion of him playing his entire career for one team, for one city and for one fan base. If that means more to you than a percent (even significant) increase in the chance of winning a championship, I can't really argue with that. We all have different priorities as fans and one isn't necessarily more valid than the other.
But, for me, it is, has been, and always will be about the pursuit of the championship.
Even now, 14 years later, I still have my ticket to Game 5 of the 2008 World Series displayed in my office. It's not about the championship, it's about the moments that led up to it, and the memories that came from it: the tension and electricity in Citizens Bank Park as anticipation built up over the course of a historic Game 5; the eruption of unbridled and uncontrollable joy from every person in attendance, in unison, when Eric Hinske flailed desperately at a Brad Lidge breaking ball and ended Philadelphia's 25-year championship drought; the celebration on the street in the days that followed with thousands of your closest friends.
Those moments will live on with me in a way that a thousand regular season games never could, and being able to cap off this era of basketball, and Joel Embiid's journey, with a championship would do wonders for the city of Philadelphia and its die-hard basketball fan base.
And I think Kevin Durant does more to raise the Sixers' championship odds over the next three years than Tyrese Maxey will do in a decade.
I say that for two reasons.
First, I think there's a real case to be made that if you threw Durant's next three years and Maxey's next 10 into one big bucket and sorted them based on impact, the top 2-3 seasons would all be from Durant. That's not meant as a slight towards Maxey, but that Kevin Durant, when healthy, is still playing at a near MVP caliber level. The guy averaged just under 30 points per game 63.4% true shooting percentage in a chaotic team environment with very little help around him. And yes, while Durant will be 34 next season, I think he has a game that should age well, with a prime longer than that of most star players. Barring a devastating injury I don't expect him to fall off a cliff in the next three years.
While it's tough to put a limit on Maxey's upside, I'm still skeptical that he will develop into a top-10 kind of player. As a 6-foot-2 guard, it will be tough for him to join that MVP level without having plus (to elite) court vision, and that's the one area of his game that still lags behind. It's a big reason why I've never really felt like Bradley Beal or Donovan Mitchell have had top-10 level impact on winning, even while Beal was runner-up in the league's scoring title for back-to-back seasons.
Which doesn't mean that Maxey can't get better as a facilitator. Of course he can. But he would have to have extreme outlier level growth to develop into a top-10 level player, much less one of the greatest to ever play the game, like Durant has been.
The second part of the equation over how much Durant raises the Sixers' championship odds is how it aligns with Joel Embiid's MVP-caliber play. Even if you could convince me that I'm underselling Maxey's ceiling and that he does actually have a realistic pathway to being an MVP caliber player, it's the ability to pair two players, both playing at an MVP caliber level at the same time, that's truly intriguing here, and the reason the addition of Durant would raise the Sixers' championship odds so significantly.
Even the best case scenario (which, again, I'm dubious of) of Maxey developing into one of the league's best players, it would still be uncertain whether the timeline would overlap where both Embiid and Maxey were playing at an All-NBA level at the same time. Maxey might have to make not only outlier level growth, but get there earlier in his career than is typical as well.
And we've seen first hand how difficult it is to acquire that second true, legitimate superstar. Philadelphia will never be Los Angeles and have LeBron James come specifically because of the location. It is Joel Embiid that makes the Sixers relevant enough to be on Kevin Durant's list. I would caution against taking for granted just how unique of an opportunity Joel Embiid has presented the Sixers with.
In short, I think three years of having a top-10 player to pair with Embiid would be worth twice as many years of having even a top-25 player level player on the roster. (Maxey still has steps to take to reach that level.)
This isn't about trading Maxey, but about acquiring Durant.
The way I look at it is the Sixers have two great options here: the Nets can decline the Sixers' trade package and that leaves the Sixers with the excellent outcome of having Tyrese Maxey on their roster for the foreseeable future, both to be a part of a Big 3 with Embiid and Harden and also as a bridge to the next era of Sixers basketball. Or the Nets can accept a trade package centered around Maxey and the Sixers can have the even better option of pairing Kevin Durant with Joel Embiid and James Harden to instantly become the favorites to come out of the East.
James Harden, De'Anthony Melton, P.J. Tucker, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid? Yeah. You can sign me up for that.
(And no, before anybody asks, there's no chance of landing Kevin Durant without trading Tyrese Maxey).
Do the Sixers have what it takes to land Durant?
I still don't buy it.
As a reminder, because of trades with the Oklahoma City Thunder (lost the 2025 pick in the Al Horford trade), and last year's trade with the Nets (lost the 2023 and 2027 picks to acquire James Harden), the Sixers currently do not have a first-round draft pick that they can trade until 2029. In addition to that, since the Nets themselves do not have picks in 2024 or 2026, the Sixers can't even trade swap rights with the Nets until 2028.
Furthermore, most of the Sixers' remaining young players don't have substantial trade value. Jaden Springer, last year's first-round pick, isn't currently good at basketball. Matisse Thybulle hasn't developed at all offensively in his three years in the league and is now heading into the final year of his rookie-scale deal. The cult of Bball Paul doesn't extend far enough up I-95 to be a meaningful factor in these negotiations.
Sure, if Brooklyn wants to win now they might view Tobias Harris as less of a negative asset than rebuilding teams might, but Tyrese Maxey is doing a lot of heavy lifting here in this trade package. This would be as close to a one asset for one asset trade as there can be, and rarely does that kind of trade package land a superstar of Kevin Durant's caliber.
Things are admittedly murky right now on the Kevin Durant trade front. The Celtics reportedly aren't willing to budge off of their initial offer of Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick. The Suns can't trade Deandre Ayton until later on in the season. The Heat are unwilling to include Bam Adebayo (and the Nets can't acquire him while Ben Simmons is on the roster), and the Raptors reportedly refuse to include Scottie Barnes in a trade.
It's easy to look at the trade market right now and perhaps talk yourself into the Nets having to "settle" for Maxey. But similar to the situation the Sixers found themselves in at this time last year, these are just the early stages of negotiations, with teams posturing for leverage and making initial offers to test the waters. If the Nets, like the Sixers, hold out long enough, a team who is now bluffing will wake up and reveal something closer to their best hand, or something will happen to shake up the status quo. This is still Kevin Durant we're talking about.
I'd love to be wrong, but I think the Sixers' complete lack of tradeable draft picks is going to kill their chances.
Joel Embiid, the dependable superstar?
On the one hand, the deterioration of the Brooklyn Nets feels like it's happening in slow motion. From Kyrie Irving refusing to get the vaccine, to the Nets initial decision that they didn't want him to play if he was going to be a part-time player, to James Harden working his way off the team to now Kevin Durant's trade demand it's been almost a year straight of one swing of the wrecking ball after another to dismantle the greatest dynasty that never was.
On the other hand, it was just 19 months ago that the Nets acquired Harden and completed their version of a Big 3, a team that would go win 48 games in a 72 game regular season (the equivalent of 55 games in a normal regular season) before Harden's hamstring injury (and a New York's evolving reaction to a global pandemic) started chipping away at Brooklyn's championship odds.
Now, with Kevin Durant soon to be the second future Hall of Famer to work their way off the franchise in the last six months, it's a reminder of two things.
First, it's the latest example to show just how quickly things can change, and the dynasty you thought you had lined up might come crashing down. Depending on your perspective, that could cause you to come to one of two, somewhat contradictory, conclusions about how aggressive a team should be.
The first side of the debate will want to avoid selling the farm to build a superteam. As we've seen here with the Nets, a little bit of adversity could bring it all down in the blink of an eye, and if that happens a team that went all-in and scarified so much of their future to win now (like Brooklyn has) could be left with relatively little to rebuild with. The other side of the debate will want to pounce on the opportunity to increase your championship odds while they still exist, since a frustrated star or two could be the catalyst for everything to come crashing down.
Both sides will have recent examples to draw from: the Nets for those preaching caution, and the Bucks and their all-in addition of Jrue Holiday for those wanting to press forward.
In the end, some of this comes down to luck. Would the Nets be in a different spot today if Harden didn't hurt his hamstring in 2021? Would Giannis have a different mindset about his future with the small market Bucks if Jrue Holiday hypothetically broke his foot in those same playoffs and ended their title run prematurely? What if Kevin Durant had his foot behind the 3-point line, rather than on it, when he made the shot over P.J. Tucker? There's some survivorship bias in evaluating which decisions to go all-in were wise, and which ones were not.
But part of the calculus also hinges on the personalities of the stars in question. We live in an era where we're reminded time and time again just how much influence the league's true superstars have over where they play, from Harden to Durant, to Jimmy Butler (with the Wolves), to Anthony Davis and even Ben Simmons, stars can alter a team's plans at any moment.
And this is where I have to give Joel Embiid a bit of credit here. He has had ample opportunity to hit the eject button on his Sixers career, from the loss of Jimmy Butler, to the mess of a roster that was the Al Horford/Josh Richardson era, to his co-star in Ben Simmons demanding out after coming up small, to his general manager publicly (kinda) saying that he wanted to find a medium-sized ladder to slap him, the Sixers have had their fair share of controversy and disappointments during the eight years since they selected Embiid with the 3rd overall pick.
It feels weird to give Embiid credit for not blowing up a franchise, and I don't want to make it seem like he is unique in that regard. There are superstars around the league who have shown tremendous loyalty to their franchises, even in cases where they've come up short, and even in non-glamour markets. I also don't want to promise a false sense of security on what Embiid might do in the future, as he's the only one who knows how he would react to another disappointment, another setback, or another controversy. And even then he might not know until it happens. You don't always know in advance when that final straw will hit, or whether there even is a final straw to begin with.
But as we sit here watching the car crash up the turnpike, having a star who to this point has shown no inclination to leave provides the Sixers with a bit of reliability that some franchises don't enjoy."
I mean if it comes down to Maxey and Harris plus filler vs. Jaylen Brown and filler, Durant is heading to Boston.
That's fine - I don't want to trade Maxey for Mr. "where's the next super-team".
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Yeah I love this idea. Hopefully it becomes a national holiday sooner than later too.
I don't think there's any point in passing a law that says "Election Day is a national holiday" - other than government employees get the day off. It's really up to private citizens to choose. I mean, Just because 4th of July is a national holiday doesn't mean everything is closed.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Yeah I love this idea. Hopefully it becomes a national holiday sooner than later too.
I don't think there's any point in passing a law that says "Election Day is a national holiday" - other than government employees get the day off. It's really up to private citizens to choose. I mean, Just because 4th of July is a national holiday doesn't mean everything is closed.
Not everyone but a whole lot more people would have a paid day off which they could use to vote.
Comments
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/sixers-new-arena-name-crowdsourced-20220727.html
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I'm for any reason to boost SEPTA/public trans funding.
Pittsburgh really is a great location and perfect way to place a ballpark. I would've loved to see CBP have a Camden Riversharks-like setup with the bridge and skyline lording over the top.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
And I get what you’re saying. Just think it makes too much sense but I could see it not happening
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
"
Philadelphia 76ers fans received a little bit of an unexpected mid-August jolt of excitement on Wednesday when Ian Begley of SNY reported that the Kevin Durant would welcome a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers.
From Begley's report:
The report also said that the Sixers felt strongly about engaging with the Nets on a Durant trade. Which is obvious (Sixers front office execs have eyes, so therefore have interest in Durant), but worth noting as well.
Should the Sixers be willing to trade Maxey for Durant? Do the Sixers have enough to to actually land Durant? Let's break it down.
Would I give up Tyrese Maxey for Kevin Durant?
Yes.
This has become a point of contention in Sixers Twitter since the report initially came out, and I get the reasons, both emotional and logical, why some would be hesitant to trade Maxey for virtually anyone, Kevin Durant included. Maxey is young (still just 21), and improved by leaps and bounds last year. With still two years left on his rookie contract and a lot of theoretical team control left thanks to the NBA's restricted free agency rules Maxey could be a building block of the Sixers franchise over the next decade, or longer.
On top of that, there's the emotional angle of being a fan, of watching the homegrown kid unexpectedly develop into a force in the league, and the almost romantic notion of him playing his entire career for one team, for one city and for one fan base. If that means more to you than a percent (even significant) increase in the chance of winning a championship, I can't really argue with that. We all have different priorities as fans and one isn't necessarily more valid than the other.
But, for me, it is, has been, and always will be about the pursuit of the championship.
Even now, 14 years later, I still have my ticket to Game 5 of the 2008 World Series displayed in my office. It's not about the championship, it's about the moments that led up to it, and the memories that came from it: the tension and electricity in Citizens Bank Park as anticipation built up over the course of a historic Game 5; the eruption of unbridled and uncontrollable joy from every person in attendance, in unison, when Eric Hinske flailed desperately at a Brad Lidge breaking ball and ended Philadelphia's 25-year championship drought; the celebration on the street in the days that followed with thousands of your closest friends.
Those moments will live on with me in a way that a thousand regular season games never could, and being able to cap off this era of basketball, and Joel Embiid's journey, with a championship would do wonders for the city of Philadelphia and its die-hard basketball fan base.
And I think Kevin Durant does more to raise the Sixers' championship odds over the next three years than Tyrese Maxey will do in a decade.
I say that for two reasons.
First, I think there's a real case to be made that if you threw Durant's next three years and Maxey's next 10 into one big bucket and sorted them based on impact, the top 2-3 seasons would all be from Durant. That's not meant as a slight towards Maxey, but that Kevin Durant, when healthy, is still playing at a near MVP caliber level. The guy averaged just under 30 points per game 63.4% true shooting percentage in a chaotic team environment with very little help around him. And yes, while Durant will be 34 next season, I think he has a game that should age well, with a prime longer than that of most star players. Barring a devastating injury I don't expect him to fall off a cliff in the next three years.
While it's tough to put a limit on Maxey's upside, I'm still skeptical that he will develop into a top-10 kind of player. As a 6-foot-2 guard, it will be tough for him to join that MVP level without having plus (to elite) court vision, and that's the one area of his game that still lags behind. It's a big reason why I've never really felt like Bradley Beal or Donovan Mitchell have had top-10 level impact on winning, even while Beal was runner-up in the league's scoring title for back-to-back seasons.
Which doesn't mean that Maxey can't get better as a facilitator. Of course he can. But he would have to have extreme outlier level growth to develop into a top-10 level player, much less one of the greatest to ever play the game, like Durant has been.
The second part of the equation over how much Durant raises the Sixers' championship odds is how it aligns with Joel Embiid's MVP-caliber play. Even if you could convince me that I'm underselling Maxey's ceiling and that he does actually have a realistic pathway to being an MVP caliber player, it's the ability to pair two players, both playing at an MVP caliber level at the same time, that's truly intriguing here, and the reason the addition of Durant would raise the Sixers' championship odds so significantly.
Even the best case scenario (which, again, I'm dubious of) of Maxey developing into one of the league's best players, it would still be uncertain whether the timeline would overlap where both Embiid and Maxey were playing at an All-NBA level at the same time. Maxey might have to make not only outlier level growth, but get there earlier in his career than is typical as well.
And we've seen first hand how difficult it is to acquire that second true, legitimate superstar. Philadelphia will never be Los Angeles and have LeBron James come specifically because of the location. It is Joel Embiid that makes the Sixers relevant enough to be on Kevin Durant's list. I would caution against taking for granted just how unique of an opportunity Joel Embiid has presented the Sixers with.
In short, I think three years of having a top-10 player to pair with Embiid would be worth twice as many years of having even a top-25 player level player on the roster. (Maxey still has steps to take to reach that level.)
This isn't about trading Maxey, but about acquiring Durant.
The way I look at it is the Sixers have two great options here: the Nets can decline the Sixers' trade package and that leaves the Sixers with the excellent outcome of having Tyrese Maxey on their roster for the foreseeable future, both to be a part of a Big 3 with Embiid and Harden and also as a bridge to the next era of Sixers basketball. Or the Nets can accept a trade package centered around Maxey and the Sixers can have the even better option of pairing Kevin Durant with Joel Embiid and James Harden to instantly become the favorites to come out of the East.
James Harden, De'Anthony Melton, P.J. Tucker, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid? Yeah. You can sign me up for that.
(And no, before anybody asks, there's no chance of landing Kevin Durant without trading Tyrese Maxey).
Do the Sixers have what it takes to land Durant?
I still don't buy it.
As a reminder, because of trades with the Oklahoma City Thunder (lost the 2025 pick in the Al Horford trade), and last year's trade with the Nets (lost the 2023 and 2027 picks to acquire James Harden), the Sixers currently do not have a first-round draft pick that they can trade until 2029. In addition to that, since the Nets themselves do not have picks in 2024 or 2026, the Sixers can't even trade swap rights with the Nets until 2028.
Furthermore, most of the Sixers' remaining young players don't have substantial trade value. Jaden Springer, last year's first-round pick, isn't currently good at basketball. Matisse Thybulle hasn't developed at all offensively in his three years in the league and is now heading into the final year of his rookie-scale deal. The cult of Bball Paul doesn't extend far enough up I-95 to be a meaningful factor in these negotiations.
Sure, if Brooklyn wants to win now they might view Tobias Harris as less of a negative asset than rebuilding teams might, but Tyrese Maxey is doing a lot of heavy lifting here in this trade package. This would be as close to a one asset for one asset trade as there can be, and rarely does that kind of trade package land a superstar of Kevin Durant's caliber.
Things are admittedly murky right now on the Kevin Durant trade front. The Celtics reportedly aren't willing to budge off of their initial offer of Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick. The Suns can't trade Deandre Ayton until later on in the season. The Heat are unwilling to include Bam Adebayo (and the Nets can't acquire him while Ben Simmons is on the roster), and the Raptors reportedly refuse to include Scottie Barnes in a trade.
It's easy to look at the trade market right now and perhaps talk yourself into the Nets having to "settle" for Maxey. But similar to the situation the Sixers found themselves in at this time last year, these are just the early stages of negotiations, with teams posturing for leverage and making initial offers to test the waters. If the Nets, like the Sixers, hold out long enough, a team who is now bluffing will wake up and reveal something closer to their best hand, or something will happen to shake up the status quo. This is still Kevin Durant we're talking about.
I'd love to be wrong, but I think the Sixers' complete lack of tradeable draft picks is going to kill their chances.
Joel Embiid, the dependable superstar?
On the one hand, the deterioration of the Brooklyn Nets feels like it's happening in slow motion. From Kyrie Irving refusing to get the vaccine, to the Nets initial decision that they didn't want him to play if he was going to be a part-time player, to James Harden working his way off the team to now Kevin Durant's trade demand it's been almost a year straight of one swing of the wrecking ball after another to dismantle the greatest dynasty that never was.
On the other hand, it was just 19 months ago that the Nets acquired Harden and completed their version of a Big 3, a team that would go win 48 games in a 72 game regular season (the equivalent of 55 games in a normal regular season) before Harden's hamstring injury (and a New York's evolving reaction to a global pandemic) started chipping away at Brooklyn's championship odds.
Now, with Kevin Durant soon to be the second future Hall of Famer to work their way off the franchise in the last six months, it's a reminder of two things.
First, it's the latest example to show just how quickly things can change, and the dynasty you thought you had lined up might come crashing down. Depending on your perspective, that could cause you to come to one of two, somewhat contradictory, conclusions about how aggressive a team should be.
The first side of the debate will want to avoid selling the farm to build a superteam. As we've seen here with the Nets, a little bit of adversity could bring it all down in the blink of an eye, and if that happens a team that went all-in and scarified so much of their future to win now (like Brooklyn has) could be left with relatively little to rebuild with. The other side of the debate will want to pounce on the opportunity to increase your championship odds while they still exist, since a frustrated star or two could be the catalyst for everything to come crashing down.
Both sides will have recent examples to draw from: the Nets for those preaching caution, and the Bucks and their all-in addition of Jrue Holiday for those wanting to press forward.
In the end, some of this comes down to luck. Would the Nets be in a different spot today if Harden didn't hurt his hamstring in 2021? Would Giannis have a different mindset about his future with the small market Bucks if Jrue Holiday hypothetically broke his foot in those same playoffs and ended their title run prematurely? What if Kevin Durant had his foot behind the 3-point line, rather than on it, when he made the shot over P.J. Tucker? There's some survivorship bias in evaluating which decisions to go all-in were wise, and which ones were not.
But part of the calculus also hinges on the personalities of the stars in question. We live in an era where we're reminded time and time again just how much influence the league's true superstars have over where they play, from Harden to Durant, to Jimmy Butler (with the Wolves), to Anthony Davis and even Ben Simmons, stars can alter a team's plans at any moment.
And this is where I have to give Joel Embiid a bit of credit here. He has had ample opportunity to hit the eject button on his Sixers career, from the loss of Jimmy Butler, to the mess of a roster that was the Al Horford/Josh Richardson era, to his co-star in Ben Simmons demanding out after coming up small, to his general manager publicly (kinda) saying that he wanted to find a medium-sized ladder to slap him, the Sixers have had their fair share of controversy and disappointments during the eight years since they selected Embiid with the 3rd overall pick.
It feels weird to give Embiid credit for not blowing up a franchise, and I don't want to make it seem like he is unique in that regard. There are superstars around the league who have shown tremendous loyalty to their franchises, even in cases where they've come up short, and even in non-glamour markets. I also don't want to promise a false sense of security on what Embiid might do in the future, as he's the only one who knows how he would react to another disappointment, another setback, or another controversy. And even then he might not know until it happens. You don't always know in advance when that final straw will hit, or whether there even is a final straw to begin with.
But as we sit here watching the car crash up the turnpike, having a star who to this point has shown no inclination to leave provides the Sixers with a bit of reliability that some franchises don't enjoy."
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Birds/Cowboys Christmas Eve
Sixers/Knicks Christmas Day
Hell of a holiday right there!
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34407823/nba-avoids-scheduling-regular-season-games-election-day
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16