Philadelphia 76ers: 5 reasons Zhaire Smith was a good pick

2. The 2021 unprotected pick

It is not often in the NBA these days that a team is willing to trade an unprotected first round pick. However, the Suns were willing to trade this one in the Heat pick, meaning the Sixers will have an extra pick in the 2021 draft.

The Heat pick is going to be especially valuable at this time. The 76ers will have developed incredible star power by then. They have Simmons, Embiid, Saric and Fultz, who are all going to be tremendous players in the league.

This means that they will fall out of the draft lottery with the playoff berths. However, the Heat are hamstrung with some large contracts and no young players who are going to break out into superstars, so this could potentially be a very early lottery pick by then.

The 76ers might use this pick to draft the next piece of the puzzle, a player to develop their continuing dynasty around. They also might use it to trade for a star to fill a position of need to compete in the next two seasons. The opportunities are endless for a team with a young talented core like the 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers got the player they would have selected if Bridges was off the board, but they also got a tremendous future asset as well thanks to the draft-night trade.