With the trade deadline passed, here comes another evaluation on Daryl Morey’s roster construction.
Another trade deadline has come again and for the third straight season, the Sixers used it to make a few ancillary moves around the margins of the roster. They added two guards well under the age of 35, but also shipped out a young forward potentially on the cusp of a breakout.
Their three moves made them younger on the aggregate while also ducking the luxury tax and getting under the first apron. Despite a disastrous season the team is still committed to its core Big 3 moving forward. So it’s time to grade this year’s moves, both for how they impact the rest of this season and the team’s long-term outlook.
Acquiring Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin
With three years left on his deal, Martin was not the most likely trade candidate on this team. He was also a part of this core group just not being able to play games together. He’s missed 19 games this season and has not played since Jan. 10.
So the Sixers decided to swap him for Grimes, a player in a similar role who is five years younger than Martin. At 6-foot-5, Grimes profiles as much more of a traditional guard than Martin does. He was having a career year in Dallas from beyond the arc, shooting 39.8% on 4.3 three-point attempts per game. He also comes with a reputation as a two-way player. Daryl Morey cited his ability to defend primary guards as a reason the team liked his fit next to Tyrese Maxey.
Grimes is in the final year of his rookie deal he signed with the Knicks, and will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Philadelphia also guaranteed to get themselves back in the 2025 draft with this deal. They acquired the least favorable of their own or the Denver Nuggets second-round pick this season. With the Sixers’ first-round pick likely conveying to the Oklahoma City Thunder this year, they should at least get their own second-rounder back.
They did have to pay though for Martin’s injuries. Marc Stein reported that the Mavericks had the option to void the trade when they learned Martin was hurt worse than they expected. While long-term they are not concerned with his hip injury, he won’t be available right away as Dallas had thought. Instead they got the Sixers to cough up a 2030 second-round pick to get the deal done.
This is a really solid pickup for the Sixers as they don’t really lose much in terms of two-way role players. They are getting back someone who fits with their stars slightly better offensively. They did shed some salary from Martin, but do have to make a decision one if they want to keep Grimes in the summer. His status as a restricted free agent though gives the Sixers a strong starting position. It isn’t quite a home run, partly because Martin is more of a proven commodity, as well as their own shady injury reporting costing them a second round pick.
Grade: B
Dumping KJ Martin’s salary along with two second-round picks
Look, there are actual basketball incentives to getting under the first apron and the luxury tax when it comes to roster building under the new CBA. The Sixers are now able to sign anyone on the buyout market, regardless of their prior salary.
That’s hardly a justification though to jettison a young player whose salary wasn’t guaranteed for next season anyway, let alone attaching two picks to do so. Hell, one of those picks is a 2031 Dallas second, which looks a lot better than it did a week ago! This blog has already eviscerated the Sixers for this trade, but there’s always room for more.
Aside from the fact that this doesn’t really change their ability to bring back someone like Guerschon Yabusele, they had to attach two picks to do this, and they don’t really have much matching salary for trades going forward. KJ Martin was just good for this team.
HIs athleticism and basketball IQ stood out on a team that specialized in neither of those things. The growing chemistry he had with Maxey was one of the few reasons this team was able to string any wins together this season. There’s no curve big enough to give this move a passing grade.
Grade: F—————————
Swapping Reggie Jackson and a late first for four seconds and Jared Butler
Funny how they sandwiched such a shameless salary dump in between two much more palatable moves. Not only did the Sixers again get younger with this move, but they also likely came away with the better draft pick haul.
The first-rounder they are sending to the Washington Wizards is the worst of the Thunder, Rockets and Clippers pick in 2026. It’s hard to see that not landing in the late 20s or even 30. In return they get four seconds, all of which could fall in the range of 30s to high 40s.
One is the more favorable pick between the Suns and Warriors in 2027, another is a more favorable pick between the Suns and Trail Blazers in 2030. They also get a Warriors second in 2028 and a Wizards second in 2030.
Not only do they come out of the deal picks positive, but they get to take a flyer on an interesting guard, albeit still on a two-way contract. Jared Butler averaged 6.9 points and 2.6 assists in 11 minutes a game for Washington this season. He shot 48.3% from the field and 36.6% from three. He had a career-high 26 points back against the Sixers in January.
Even if he isn’t able to further develop, the chance of his upside is still way more intriguing than where Reggie Jackson is at this point in his career.
Grade: A-
Final deadline evaluation
It is hard to crush a team that is 20-30 and in 11th place for making cost-cutting moves at the trade deadline. Still, they managed to do so in the most egregious way possible, enough to distract fans from the two sensible moves they did make.
The effort to get younger at positions of need while also restocking on draft picks is certainly good process. In classic Sixers fashion, they didn’t make out as well as they could have because of their own weirdness.
The additions of Grimes and Butler could both be seen as upgrades to the roster though. Not only can they help the team the rest of the season, but both could help this team in the next few years as well. They could be long-term contributors whether the Sixers try to stick this out or have to completely abandon course. So the Sixers didn’t too bad for themselves, they just did enough Sixers things to get fans mad at them in the process.
Overall deadline grade: B-