NBA Trade Grades: Thunder sending Carmelo Anthony to Hawks in 3-team deal

Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers are more of a footnote in this deal, and in fairness, those who were high on the potential of wings like Justin Anderson or Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot are not going to like this move.

However, the simple truth of the matter is, neither Anderson nor TLC was a fixture in the rotation, and with so many guaranteed contracts heading into the upcoming season (not to mention second round picks like Shake Milton and Jonah Bolden), something had to give.

Justin Anderson averaged a mere 6.2 points in 13.7 minutes per game last year, shooting 33 percent shooting from downtown and only appearing in 38 games. Luwawu-Cabarrot posted just 5.8 points in 15.5 minutes per game, shooting 33.5 percent from deep and suiting up for 52 games. With Wilson Chandler joining the mix, wing minutes were going to be even more limited.

Instead, this move clears up one roster spot, and Mike Muscala also addresses the team’s need for a stretch-big off the bench that Nemanja Bjelica left when he reneged on his free agency agreement with Philly. Keep in mind, this team also lost Ersan Ilyasova to free agency this summer.

Though he’s already 27 years old, Muscala has never really gotten much burn during his five years in the NBA. He averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 20.0 minutes per game last year — all career-highs — but the Sixers really need him for his career 37.8 percent conversion rate from beyond the arc.

Muscala canned 37.1 percent of his career-high 3.2 long range attempts per game last year, making him more of an asset to the Sixers than Anderson or Luwawu-Cabarrot.

Giving up on a highly touted international draft pick like TLC is unfortunate, and developing wing depth behind Robert Covington remains a problem for this team, but the Sixers’ timeline has accelerated a bit and Muscala can help fill a shooting void off the bench at either the 4 or the 5.

Grade: B-