I want to preface what follows by saying that by no means do I expect Tyrese Maxey to be traded nor is this a post to advocate for such a move. Maxey has done nothing but improve during his time in Philadelphia and is still young enough to be a part of whatever the future looks like post Joel Embiid.
With that said, over the weekend we saw another player from the end of the 2020 first round get traded for quite the haul. Memphis drafted Desmond Bane 30th overall in 2020 and, like Maxey, Bane quickly rose to prominence as a regular starter for some Memphis teams that contended off and on. The Grizzlies sent Bane East to the Orlando Magic this weekend for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and a future first-round pick swap.
If your first thought when you saw this trade was like mine and you thought that maybe Caldwell-Pope’s contract was an albatross and Memphis taking it on enhanced the draft-pick compensation in the deal, well, that’s part of it. Caldwell-Pope is owed over 40 million dollars in 2025-26 and 2026-27 and his production seemed to dip a bit in Orlando after winning an NBA Championship in Denver. The more obvious part is that the Magic, a team that is not often a popular free agent destination, are getting four years of control before Bane hits unrestricted free agency. By all accounts, Orlando was a team that was desperately trying to get out of NBA purgatory and get Paolo Banchero some help and this is how the Magic opted to do that.
Bane’s a nice player and Caldwell-Pope is off the books, but this is still quite the overpay if you ask me. Teams like Orlando are often exploitable in trades. Remember when Minnesota knew it had a budding star in Anthony Edwards a few years ago and so the Timberwolves traded practically every draft pick they owned to acquire Rudy Gobert? On one hand, the aggressive approach from these teams is admirable. They know they aren’t going to acquire high-end talent in free agency and are determined to show their superstars they’re serious about winning with them in hopes of keeping them for the majority of their careers. On the other hand, how sure are we that teams like the Magic and Timberwolves had good enough rosters before these trades to be able to mortgage the future? It’s like going all-in with a pair of 10s in poker. It’s not a bad hand, but is it the winning hand?
That brings us back to Maxey. Maxey is a better player than both Gobert and Bane. Mikal Bridges going to the Knicks is another trade in which the acquiring club overpaid to get out of no-man’s land. Maxey is also better than Bridges. He would be a more serious needle-mover for a team in the middle of the NBA that likes enough of its roster to want to add another All-Star to it. Maxey and Jared McCain are also Philly’s only serious trade chips. If you’re of the mindset that Embiid and Paul George are never going to be healthy again for the Sixers to win a championship with them on the roster, then now might be the perfect time to trade Maxey.
Like Bane, Maxey has four more years left on his current contract. Considering I think everyone would agree Maxey is better than Bane, you’d have to assume a Maxey trade would include a fifth unprotected first-rounder and probably a second pick swap. Granted, it doesn’t always work out that way where one trade becomes the framework for another trade, but it’s the best we can do here and Bane is only two years older than Maxey so they’re not that far off in age.
For as much as all Sixers fans understandably like Maxey, it’s important to consider what this kind of trade return might do for the franchise. Look at how quickly Houston turned things around into becoming one of the more exciting young teams in the NBA after the James Harden trade to Brooklyn. Keep in mind, Houston isn’t even done reaping the benefits of that trade. A Maxey trade would offer the Sixers a viable look towards a brighter future. Sure, if you suffered through the majority of the 2024-25 disaster, you might be hoping silver linings like Quentin Grimes, Adem Bona, Justin Edwards and Guerschon Yabusele stick around and become rotation players for the next contending Sixers team. You might love some of the draft prospects the Sixers can select at No. 3 overall and envision a bright future with one of those prospects, McCain and Maxey.
But, if we’re being totally serious, right now there is not a player on the roster other than Embiid that has the upside of being the best player on a championship winning team. That’s not to disrespect Maxey or McCain, but I can’t get there with either player having THAT high of a ceiling. While there are some intriguing prospects for Philadelphia to add to the fold at third overall next week, the “best player on a championship winner” tier seems to include just Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper in this draft. That might be why you heard some rumors recently about Daryl Morey looking to move up to No. 2 overall in a trade with San Antonio.
If we are to connect the dots on that Sixers-Spurs trade rumor, it would suggest that Morey knows the team does not currently have another player besides Embiid that is capable of being the best player on a championship winner. There’s certainly enough doubt surrounding Embiid’s future to want to take advantage of being this high up in the draft and leave with a player that has a superstar ceiling. That’s especially true if you do not believe Maxey’s ceiling is that of a top 5-7 player in the NBA.
I’ll even take it a step further. If Maxey was traded for predominantly future draft considerations, how would you feel about the starting lineup below on opening night 2025-26:
Jared McCain
Quentin Grimes
3rd overall pick from the 2025 draft
Paul George
Joel Embiid
I won’t act like it’s an NBA Finals team, but it’s got a good mix of youth and experience to where if you got a healthy season from both George and Embiid, that starting lineup could do some damage in a shallow East, especially if the third pick is able to come in right away and contribute admirably. That’s before even considering a player or two that might come back in a Maxey trade and be able to help the team next season. The downside is if Embiid and George are not healthy enough next season, the Sixers are likely going to stink again and the protection on the draft pick that gets sent to the Thunder next year is down to just the top four so the Sixers really are best-served by trying to win as many games as possible next season and Maxey helps them do that.
My only point here is that a Maxey trade could give the Sixers a serious future that they definitely do not have right now. If you were told today that Embiid and George were never going to play again for the Sixers, there’s no way you’d feel good about the future. Not only because Philadelphia would lack ample high-end talent for its next roster rendition to contend, but also because the Sixers do not control the fate of their first-round pick in 2026 or 2028. They owe the Nets a 2028 top-eight protected first-rounder to complete the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade.
If you were told that Embiid and George were done and the Sixers had a bunch of unprotected first-rounders and a few pick swaps from a middling NBA team that’s desperate to get out of purgatory to go with McCain and the third overall pick this year, you’d probably feel better about the future of the franchise, right? It should also be noted that with how quickly rosters can be turned over in the NBA, acquiring anyone’s unprotected first-round pick 3-4 years or more down the line is probably a good idea. As we mentioned, look how quickly things fell apart in Brooklyn after the Nets acquired Harden to go with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Suddenly, Houston got good again after a couple years in the NBA’s basement.
We’ll finish where we started. Tyrese Maxey has been an excellent Sixer and probably isn’t getting traded any time soon. He is certainly young enough for the Sixers to assemble some kind of post-Embiid roster that contends with Maxey being a big part of said contention. It’s merely food for thought on what the future of the franchise looks like if Maxey is traded. If a team calls the Sixers and asks about Maxey’s availability, they should not hang up. Maybe a trade doesn’t get over the finish line, but it’s a discussion worth having.