Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking each trade target they are rumored to be interested in
By Josh Wilson
As trade season heats up, Sixers rumors run rampant. With the team primed to make a move to get better before the trade deadline, we rank the options they have been rumored to be interested in.
The Philadelphia 76ers have disappointed to a slight degree, with the offense at times sputtering and finding itself unable to connect the dots. As expected, Sixers rumors are running rampant throughout January.
With two of the most dynamic players in the NBA on the team in Joel Embiid in Ben Simmons, it would be a massive oversight for the team to not look into options to help fix the offense. Projected to be one of the top two teams, Philly has fallen to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.
A major issue is spacing. Simmons and Embiid both do their main offensive work at the rim.
Around them, some shooters have faced slumps and general steps back in accuracy throughout the year. In general, though, the narrative that the shots aren’t falling is incorrect, the shots have fallen at exactly the same rate so far this year as they did last year.
The issue lies more in the volume of attempts. There, the Sixers also attempt a similar amount this year as they did last year, too, but the league has trended upward. Last year the Sixers were 19th in 3-pointers attempted per game, this year they are 25th. Where the rest of the league shoots as much as possible and increases volume, the Sixers have stagnated.
Philadelphia attempts 65.8 percent of its shots in the 2-point zone, sixth-most in the NBA. The Bucks, for comparison, attempt 57.2 percent of their shots in the 2-point zone (third least in the NBA).
The team lost 3-point marksman J.J. Redick to free agency. Having a go-to guy beyond the arc would serve the team well. Better spacing, in general, would help both Embiid and Simmons do what they do best in the paint.
So far, the team has had rumored interest in Luke Kennard and Langston Galloway of the Detroit Pistons according to Keith Pompey, Davis Bertans, Robert Covington, Glenn Robinson III, E’Twaun Moore, Malik Beasley, and Andre Iguodala according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, and Marcus Morris per Marc Berman of the New York Post, a late addition to the flurry of players mentioned.
Some of these players may be unrealistic for a number of reasons. Several could just be Elton Brand doing his due diligence. Let’s take a look at which of these options are best for Philly.