Getty President of basketball operations Daryl Morey looks on during a press conference at the Seventy Sixers Practice Facility.
The Philadelphia 76ers were among several teams who have received trade proposals from the Chicago Bulls featuring two-time NBA All-Star Zach LaVine, according to NBC Sports-Chicago’s K.C. Johnson.
The Bulls enter the offseason with “everything on the table,” as Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas said during his season-ending press conference in April.
“It’s why Zach LaVine’s future isn’t the only trade scenario that has been discussed, even if sources said Karnišovas has floated as many as 15 proposals centered on the two-time All-Star guard to various teams including the Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers,” Johnson wrote on June 20.
LaVine has three years and $138 million remaining in his five-year $215 million deal.
Zach LaVine Is Not Sixers’ Top Priority
While LaVine is very much available, the Sixers’ top target is Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers, per Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey.
“The Sixers believe they have a real chance of signing the nine-time All-Star,” Pompey wrote on May 26.
But the messy divorce between former Sixers star James Harden and team president Daryl Morey could work against their effort to land George.
“Believe it or not, players talk,” said George on the “Podcast P with Paul George” on June 19. “And then reputations go around, like, ‘Hey man, I don’t know about going to this place. Watch your back, you know what I mean?’ That’s the conversations you have.”
Harden called Morey a “liar” before he was traded to the Clippers and became George’s teammate.
George can become an unrestricted free agent if he and the Clippers cannot agree to an extension and he declines his $48.7 million player option on June 29.
George is the perfect 3-and-D wing to slot in between Most Improved Player of the Year Tyrese Maxey and 2022-23 NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
Sixers’ Second Option Is Still Not Zach LaVine
If the Sixers missed out on George, their second option is OG Anunoby of the New York Knicks, and not LaVine, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.
“As previously reported, members of the Philadelphia 76ers have seen Anunoby as an offseason target. Paul George is also a target for Philadelphia. But if the Sixers can’t get George, I could see them making a big offer to Anunoby – if for no other reason than it would force New York to match the money,” Begley wrote on May 21.
Anunoby is like the poor man’s version of George, whose defensive chops and off-ball play have made the Knicks a much better team since he arrived via midseason trade.
But just like George or LaVine, Anunoby’s injury history also presents a massive risk. Yet George and Anunoby are far ahead of LaVine in terms of the defensive fit the Sixers are seeking. And both George and Anunoby can be had without giving up a player or a draft asset.
So it’s not hard to see why the Sixers were not enamored of LaVine, even if his availability dates as far back as the last February trade deadline.
A Maxey-LaVine backcourt raises defensive concerns for a team with title aspirations. Freshly minted champion Boston Celtics boasts of two-way players Jrue Holiday and Derrick White in their backcourt.