The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to put the disastrous 2024-25 season behind them. They got off to a great start on May 12 when NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum revealed that they had clinched the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Now, the 76ers can package the No. 3 pick with other assets to potentially land a superstar such as Giannis Antetokounmpo.
FS1’s Nick Wright proposed a trade that would send Antetokounmpo to the 76ers in exchange for a package headlined by the No. 3 pick and All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey.
76ers would receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Bucks would receive: No. 3 pick (2025), Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Ricky Council IV, first-round pick (via LAC, 2028), first-round pick swap (via LAC, 2029)
New Big Three In Philadelphia
“This is potentially intriguing [for the Bucks],” Wright argued.
“McCain looked like he was going to win Rookie of the Year before he got injured. Plus, Philly can include so many draft picks, and the ability to swap with the Clippers. Depending on how bullish you are about the Clippers in 2029, and Maxey, that could be very intriguing.”
The hypothetical trade would also form a new Big 3 in Philadelphia comprising Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Paul George, potentially giving Nick Nurse’s team enough ammo to compete with the Celtics, Pacers, Knicks and Cavaliers in the East.
In the 2024-25 season, the 76ers formed a Big 3 with Embiid, George and Maxey, but did not get a suitable return on investment.
76ers Vow to Bounce Back
The 76ers entered the 2024-25 season as one of the top-three title favorites, per ESPN Bet, but ended their campaign with a 24-58 record. While a lot of their failures could be attributed to the injuries suffered by Embiid and Maxey, the team lacked on-court chemistry even when healthy, fueling the chatter of a roster reboot.
In his season-ending news conference, Daryl Morey, the president of basketball operations for the 76ers, vowed to give fans a better product in 2025-26.
“Obviously a tough season … not where we expected to be,” Morey said reflecting on the 2024-25 season, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“We expect more,” he continued. We really feel for the fans who put their heart and soul into this team, and we know we’ve let you down. Ownership gave us the resources to make aggressive moves this offseason to put a championship roster around Joel [Embiid] and Tyrese [Maxey] and sometimes, those aggressive moves don’t initially work out, but we feel good about [them].”
Morey also confirmed in his presser that Nick Nurse would return to the team as head coach in 2025-26. Some analysts had blamed the 76ers’ woes to Nurse’s coaching, specifically his insistence to play George in a point-forward capacity.
“If everything sets up well, we’ll have a younger, more dynamic roster around a healthy Joel, Tyrese and Paul,” Morey said looking ahead to the 2025-26 season.
“I never felt like Coach had a healthy literally one game with all three of them. I know they played some games together, but they didn’t finish all of them and even the ones where it was like their first game back.”
76ers Land Giannis Antetokounmpo in Blockbuster Trade Pitch