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The Philadelphia 76ers have traded C Al Horford and two draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for SG Danny Green, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported late Wednesday. The Thunder just can’t stop compiling draft picks, can they? Sam Presti gets OKC another two picks, a first- and second-round pick. We don’t know if they’ll be selecting two more times tonight or in the future.
Update: So Woj has some more details on the draft picks here. The Thunder get a future 2025 first-rounder that is lightly protected as well as the No. 34 pick in the 2020 draft tonight. Terrance Ferguson also goes to Philly. Woj tweeted out that the Sixers are also sending the rights to Serbian PG Vasilije Micic to OKC.
The Sixers are sending a lightly-protected 2025 first-round pick and the 34th overall pick in tonight's draft, sources tell ESPN. The Thunder are also sending Terrance Ferguson to the Sixers with Green. https://t.co/sDCfPo4T4L
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 18, 2020
The big move for the Sixers is new team president Daryl Morey was able to shed Horford’s contract. Horford has three years remaining on his deal at around $27 million per season through 2023. The Thunder are going into full-blown rebuild mode, so taking on Horford’s contract is nothing if it means getting two more draft picks. OKC could just be stockpiling assets to make a bigger move as well, possibly to get up into the lottery in the 2020 NBA Draft later tonight.
As for how Horford fits into OKC’s roster, he actually fills a need at PF with Danilo Gallinari likely to leave via free agency this weekend. The Thunder already dealt Dennis Schroder to the Lakers for Green and the No. 28 pick in the draft. OKC then dealt PG Chris Paul to the Suns in a deal centered around PG Ricky Rubio and SF Kelly Oubre Jr. So the Thunder are looking at a starting lineup of Rubio, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oubre, Horford and Steven Adams. Honestly, there are worse lineups in the world.
Green is a shell of his former self, but is coming off helping the Lakers win a title in 2020. He also can — wait for it — shoot a 3-pointer! This is something the Sixers haven’t done well for a while now. So adding a veteran shooter to space the floor with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid isn’t a bad move by Morey. Philly is also rumored to be looking to make a bigger move — possibly for James Harden. If that is the case, moving Horford to free up some cap space was important. We’ll see if Tobias Harris is the next to go.