Regardless of Daryl Morey’s comments, the Sixers used the NBA trade deadline to duck luxury tax

Daryl Morey tried his best during Friday’s 28-minute press conference to convince people that trading Jared McCain was good for the 76ers.

But the Sixers president of basketball operations could have spoken for 28 days, and it wouldn’t have changed folks’ minds that this deal was made to save money.

No matter how much Morey and the organization preach positivity, the Sixers did not get better by trading the second-year guard to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2026 first-round pick and three second-rounders. They may have actually gotten fleeced by Sam Presti, the Thunder executive vice president and general manager.

» READ MORE: Daryl Morey likes the Sixers’ chances in the East, but he understands skepticism around the Jared McCain trade

Based on their tendency to win deals, Presti and Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge are the two executives you don’t want to trade with. And the fact that Presti surrendered a first-rounder — something he hasn’t done since 2015 — reveals that he sees something special in McCain.

This trade has the potential to be one that the Sixers will regret in a few seasons.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder received a standing ovation while checking into the game during his Thunder debut on Saturday in Oklahoma City. He finished with five points, two rebounds, and one assist while a plus-12 in 13 minutes, 56 seconds during the 112-106 loss to the Houston Rockets at Paycom Center.

These are reasons why Sixers fans are up in arms over this move, and see it for what it is: a way to get under the luxury tax threshold for a fourth consecutive season.

But give Morey credit for trying to sell the trade to the media and Sixers fans.

The team will receive the Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick, which is expected to be a late first-rounder. One of the second-rounders is the most favorable 2027 pick from the Thunder, Rockets, Indiana Pacers, and the Miami Heat. The other second-rounders are 2028 picks that previously belonged to the Milwaukee Bucks and Thunder.

“Sort of the whole tell with people who don’t like the deal is they’ll leave off the return, minimize this draft, which we think is good, and things like that …,” Morey said. “That return is for a starter-quality player on a good team. It’s actually above that.”

Morey added that the Sixers tried to trade those draft picks for an impactful addition at the deadline. He also thinks they could use them as tradable assets to move around in the draft.

Morey did say that McCain has the potential to be a great player. He even noted that the Sixers wish the 21-year-old good luck. Morey added that they feel the returns for McCain put them in a better position for the future.

But what if they can’t swap those picks for the standout player Morey envisions?

Will people think back to when the Sixers traded Matisse Thybulle as part of a four-team trade on Feb. 9, 2023, that helped them get under the luxury tax?

» READ MORE: Daryl Morey’s message to Joel Embiid and Sixers fans: Trust the Process

The team acquired Jalen McDaniels from the Charlotte Hornets in that deal.

“A big theme of our season this year was to prepare for the playoffs, and win a championship as you guys know,” Morey said then. “We wanted to make sure we gave [coach Doc Rivers] as many two-way players as possible.

“And we think Jalen is one of the up-and-coming solid defenders, somebody that’s a little easier to keep on the floor in a lot of matchups.”

The problem is that McDaniels gradually found himself out of the rotation during the Sixers’ second-round playoff series loss to the Boston Celtics.

The 6-9 small forward signed with the Toronto Raptors on July 6, 2023, after the Sixers only offered him a minimum-salary contract to remain with the team in free agency.

Unable to find his footing with several other teams, McDaniels is out of the league.

There’s also some uncertainty surrounding the type of players the Sixers could get with the picks acquired from OKC, assuming they keep them.

While there are some exceptions, with Sixers two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey (21st pick in 2020) being one of them, late first-rounders and second-rounders often have brief NBA careers. And very few of those players become stars, and even fewer become value rotation players.

Yet, McCain, whom the Sixers selected 16th in the 2024 draft, averaged 10 points and made 38.1% of his three-pointers in 60 career games with the Sixers.

He was the 2024-25 Rookie of the Year front-runner before suffering a season-ending torn meniscus in his left knee in December 2024.

Despite playing in just 23 games last season, McCain finished tied for seventh in the Rookie of the Year voting. He was awarded a third-place vote from the media panel of 100 voters.

» READ MORE: Sixers takeaways: Matching physicality, Tyrese Maxey is hard to guard, and more from the win against Suns

That’s because McCain put the league on notice by averaging 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists last season. He also shot 46% from the field, including 38.3% from three. The California native joined Hall of Famer Allen Iverson as the only Sixers rookies to average at least 15 points and two made three-pointers.

In addition to last season being cut short, the start of this season was delayed after he suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb in September.

While returning from the injuries, McCain struggled with consistency this season, leaving him out of the rotation at times. He averaged just 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 37.8% on three-pointers in 37 games this season.

But once a player returns from a major knee injury, it can take up to an additional five or six months to regain his old form.

With that, the expectation was that we would start seeing flashes of the old McCain at the end of this season. Even if they felt strongly about trading him, one would have thought his value would have been higher this summer when he’d be back to his old self.

Morey didn’t see it that way.

“I’m quite confident we were selling high,” he said. “Obviously, time will tell. We weren’t looking to sell. I’ll be frank. Teams came to us with aggressive offers for him. You could say, ‘Yeah, that’s because he’s a good player.’ I agree with that. We thought this return was above, for the future value of our franchise, what we could get. The only higher point would’ve been during his run last season. Otherwise, we feel like we did time this well.”

» READ MORE: The Sixers trading Jared McCain will either be a head-scratcher or an embarrassment

Perhaps.

The thing is, however, the Sixers will have a tough time convincing people that trading McCain isn’t a move to duck the luxury tax for the fourth consecutive season.