There’s still over a month until the 2025 NBA Draft. We still have draft workouts and weeks of leaks until we know what the Sixers will do with the third overall pick.
That makes these mailbags perfect for us. The conversation is going to shift a whole lot before June 25. The national draft experts will change their outlook and we no doubt will change ours. Let’s see what’s on your mind and I’ll try to give you as many answers as I can.
As always, thank you for the questions! I’ve genuinely enjoyed doing these mailbags and interacting with a lot of you.
Three different questions about trading down, so let’s lump them together a bit here.
As the first question mentions, if Daryl Morey and his scouting department have a player they love at three, there’s no need to get cute. Sure, you’d love to have extra draft capital, but if they view Ace Bailey, V.J. Edgecombe, Tre Johnson or anyone else as the clear top guy at No. 3, just take them.
I think all three of you are on the right track as far as the goal of a trade down. There’s already been cold water thrown on the idea of the Sixers making a big splash and using the third pick to acquire a veteran star. If the Sixers ultimately do trade down, it will be because a team like the Brooklyn Nets has a ton of future draft capital and could make Morey an offer he can’t refuse.
As I’ve said exhaustively, Johnson is the guy to me. I would take him at No. 3. With that said, the prospects in the 3-8 range — including Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach — are all really close. If you traded back with Brooklyn, you’d still get an intriguing young player at pick No. 8 with more draft capital. It’s something worth considering.
With Kasparas Jakucionis specifically, his physical limitations really showed up against stiff competition. He has unreal feel and some of his passes look like wizardry. As you mentioned, his ability as a pull-up shooter also makes him a dangerous offensive weapon. I’m just not sure he can overcome both his lack of burst and lack of strength at the next level. He’s not a top-10 prospect to me, but I’ve been wrong before!
I wouldn’t label it as a “blasphemy” to move Jared McCain, but I wouldn’t trade him just for future draft capital. If a star-level guy becomes available — now or down the road — McCain is a guy I would possibly use in a package. I was so impressed with what McCain showed last year, I would be awfully careful in whatever deal I’d consider with him.
And Morey has (correctly) said, the current roster will not impact the draft. He’ll take the best player available. If you’re worried about drafting Edgecombe because the Sixers would have “too many guards,” I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. Besides, Nick Nurse has shown a willingness and adeptness at deploying three-guard lineups, even in using smaller guards like Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet. With the size and defensive prowess of Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes, Nurse should be able to mix and match them fairly easily. There’s no guarantee it would work out, but I’d rather try and find out than select a player I believe to be inferior.
I do like the idea of getting more picks in this draft. There might not be stars throughout, but there are a lot of guys with intriguing role player qualities that could be available in the mid-to-late first. The Sixers’ only real path to getting more is likely trading out of No. 3.
I blame Sam Presti (complimentary). Or maybe I should blame Sam Hinkie since Presti basically did the same thing but without league interference and the Colangelos.
The Oklahoma City Thunder started taking on bad contracts in exchange for draft picks. Presti took advantage of teams signing non-max players to max contracts (did the Sixers do that? Oh yeah, they did) or big contracts for ill-fitting players (hi, Al Horford). It feels like those chickens are coming home to roost, as evidenced by Sixers fans sweating out the lottery results last week.
With the Thunder having success and landing excellent players in the draft with so many bites at the apple, it’s not surprising that all the bottom-feeder teams started copying the strategy.
Star players having more autonomy than ever is also a part of this. Star players are very likely to have their trade requests/demands met, which allows their former teams to accumulate picks. Brooklyn owns so much draft capital in large part because they’ve traded away Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, players who wanted out of town, over the last few years.
The last culprit, I would say, is the new CBA. With teams having concerns over the dreaded aprons, free agency is on life support (I understand some folks expect 2026 to possibly be a big year for free agency again). The Nets are the only team with cap space this summer as of now. Contending teams are not only attaching draft picks to get off bad contracts, but they’re also targeting players on cheaper contracts — inflating the trade value of players on team-friendly deals.
I think of someone like Herb Jones right now. His contract is an absolute steal for the level of player he is. If the Pelicans put him on the market (zero indication they will), they would get an absolute haul for him — probably more than they’d get for Zion Williamson. Think about how nuts that is.
Anyway, the tl;dr version is I think it is a trend and I don’t see it ending with the new CBA. It’s easier to trade draft picks than it is to clear money in free agency.