After James Harden at the trade deadline, Daryl Morey is looking to bring other members of his former team to Philadelphia. Beyond PJ Tuckerthe Sixers try to recover Eric Gordon in a transfer. They would even include Matisse Thybulle in the negotiations.
From Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Blazers initially try to set up a trade for Thybulle. But Philadelphia would rather expand discussions to a third franchise to get their hands on a veteran. Their target would be none other than sniper Eric Gordon.
This is undoubtedly an outcome to be expected with the front office of Daryl Morey. The Sixers president of basketball operations still holds the team he built at the Rockets in high regard. He started repatriating his players with Harden in February and would like to continue this momentum during the summer. His franchise is just preparing to make a hefty offer to PJ Tucker, Houston’s defensive Swiss army knife under Morey.
Sixth man of the year in 2017, Gordon is next on the list. After a year averaging 13.4 points, 41.2% from three points, his team is looking to part with it. The 33-year-old guard no longer has a place in the Rockets’ reconstruction project. On the contrary, he could shine in the Sixers system.
Portland, whose objective is to strengthen its workforce before the next season, could facilitate the trade by recovering Thybulle. They would probably send a draft pick or a youngster to Houston to allow everyone to find their way around.
On the side of Philadelphia, the Australian has long been considered untransferable. The franchise notably refused to include it in the negotiations at the trade deadline in February. However, he didn’t show the expected offensive progress in his third year in the NBA.
With a very defensive profile and at only 25 years old, Matisse Thybulle keeps a good rating across the league. He’s eligible for a contract extension, up to $186 million over five years, and would likely benefit from a change in executives. It is one of the pieces that the front office has put on the market to improve the workforce this summer.
With James Harden and Joel Embiid, the Sixers hope to play the title in the years to come. They haven’t made it past the conference semifinals in over 20 years and are apparently ready to go all out to fix it. We can therefore expect them to be very active before the start of next season. A team to watch on draft night.
LIVE – Draft 2022: all picks and moves live
–
