After being swept by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs, stories came out that Joel Embiid was not happy with how the franchise was being run.
Mere days later, “The Process” got his wish, with the 76ers moving on from Daryl Morey after six seasons running the franchise.
Initially hired by the organization all the way back in November of 2020, when Ben Simmons was an All-Star point guard and the Oklahoma City Thunder were still in asset acquisition mode, Morey made an immediate impact for the 76ers right out of the gate, trading Al Horford and a first-round pick to OKC for Danny Green and Josh Richardson to the Dallas Mavericks for Seth Curry before selecting a new franchise cornerstone, Tyrese Maxey, in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Morey drafted some very good players, some of whom still play for the team, made some trades, big and small, two of which involved James Harden, and ultimately left behind a team that has talent but flaws, with 11 players currently under contract for the 2026-27 NBA season.
As things presently stand, the 76ers have 11 players under contract, with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George each on max contracts, while VJ Edgecombe, Justin Edwards, Adem Bona, and Johni Broome are on rookie-scale deals. Dominick Barlow, Trendon Watford, and Dalen Terry all have contracts that the 76ers could pick up in that order of priority, and Jabari Walker is still under contract, too, at $2.6 million.
The 76ers also currently own the Bird rights of Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr., and thus can sign them to contracts worth more than their 2025-26 figures, creating an avenue for just two more one-way contracts to be filled between the Houston Rockets' 2026 first round pick, a $4.2 million trade exception from the Jared McCain deal, a $2.2 million trade exception from the Eric Gordon deal, and either the tax-payer mid-level exception or the non-tax-payer mid-level exception, depending on how they handle their Bird rights free agents.
But before the 76ers worry about free agency, settle on their draft board, or make a decision on which options to pick up, the team will need to evaluate the players they already have under contract and decide if there's a move they could make to get better long-term, even if it means having to say goodbye to a familiar face or two along the way.
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse shows forward Kawhi Leonard (2) a play during a break in the action against the Philadelphia 76ers at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto defeated Philadelphia.
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Send Paul George home for a Kawhi Leonard-Nick Nurse reunion
There's no two ways about it: the Paul George signing has been a mild failure for Philadelphia.
Now granted, some of that isn't solely on PG, as he was injured during his maiden campaign and was suspended for almost a quarter of this season, but his production is nowhere close to what he put up in Los Angeles with the Clippers, and at 36, that trend is unlikely to begin going the opposite direction.
The solution? Trade him away, even if the number of viable landing spots is rather small.
Now sure, if a team like, say, the Orlando Magic decided that they want out of the Paolo Bancharo business and began shopping him around, the 76ers would be silly not to answer their call. Sending a win-now player like George to a team willing to move off of a similarly expensive but younger player is the exact kind of move the team should make, especially if it comes with draft picks.
The problem? There just aren't a lot of teams in that position, making any PG trade far more likely to be a short-term move instead of the acquisition of a long-term building block.
Fortunately, there is a player the 76ers could acquire who fits that mold to a T and just so happens to have a connection to Nick Nurse: Kawhi Leonard.
Now granted, would it be awkward to send George back to LA? Sure, but it never felt like George ever really wanted to leave Los Angeles; the 76ers just offered him a better deal. With his career winding down, George would likely happily accept a trade back to the Clippers and is the kind of player who could fit into their new youth movement regardless of who they add in the 2026 NBA Draft as a veteran locker room presence.
For the 76ers, the idea of bringing in Leonard does present some drama, considering his off-the-court issues with Aspiration, but the on-court difference between “The Klaw” and his former teammate isn't particularly close. Despite some early-season injuries, Leonard turned in a fantastic regular season campaign with the Clippers, averaging a career-high 27.9 points and 6.4 rebounds in 32.1 minutes of action per game. Leonard shot just below his career average from 3 at 38.7 percent and remained as effective as ever as a closer, attacking the hoop in the fourth quarter like it's the 2019 playoffs all over again.
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Give the Clippers the Rockets' 2026 first-round pick and another draft selection in the future, plus PG, and Nurse may be able to coax a little bit of extra magic out of his former forward as the 76ers try to get a championship during the Embiid era.
Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason (17) reacts after a play during the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Toyota Center.
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Sign-and-trade Quentin Grimes to the Rockets for Tari Eason
There was no better feel-good story in the 76ers' 2025-26 season than the emergence of Dominick Barlow.
A journeyman from Jersey, Barlow ended up starting a majority of the 76ers' games as a do-it-all forward willing to do the dirty work on both ends of the court, from fighting for a rebound, to switch on defense, to going ISO on another team's best scorer 1-5 situationally.
Why Barlow only played seldomly in the playoffs, however, is simple: he isn't a good shooter.
Now granted, in the regular season, that doesn't matter much for three quarters of the game, especially when his rebounding took some of the burden off of Embiid's knees, but when it mattered, the 76ers simply had to go elsewhere to close things out, as Barlow presented a near-Simmons-esque deficiency on the wings as a floor spacer.
So, with Grimes having predictably taken a step back from his incredible efforts in 2024-25, the 76ers could look to clear up their guard log-jam by sign-and-trading him to another team that has a restricted free agent forward looking for his own big payday.
The best option potentially available? Tari Eason of the Rockets.
A long-time favorite of Sixers Twitter, Eason is the ideal modern-day combo forward. He can guard 2-4 with ease, shoot 3s above league average, and put in work in the restricted area, be that as a driver, a cutter, or as a boards crasher. Over four seasons in Houston, Eason has averaged 10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game, impressive margins considering he's only averaged 23.6 minutes per game while starting just 55 of the 221 games he's appeared in during the regular season.
Now granted, could the Rockets view Eason as the perfect long-term small forward if they trade away Kevin Durant? Sure, but with Fred VanVleet coming back, the team could easily shift their roster around to correspond with his return, calling 6-foot-7 Amen Thompson a forward to keep him on the field alongside the former Raptors star and Reed Sheppard, the team's ascending shooting guard who went third overall in 2024.
If the Rockets want to add a player like Grimes, who could be Sheppard's long-term backcourt partner or serve as a sparkplug off the bench, and are willing to say goodbye to Eason, then the two teams could execute a sign-and-trade that works for all parties involved financially.
After being swept by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs, stories came out that Joel Embiid was not happy with how the franchise was being run. Mere days later, “The Process” got his wish, with the 76ers moving on from Daryl Morey after six seasons running the franchise.