Sixers offseason mailbag: What should they do with the No. 3 overall pick?

We answer questions about the Sixers’ options with the No. 3 overall pick and some backcourt trade possibilities if they take a guard.

If the responses to this week’s mailbag are any indication, Sixers fans appear to be more excited than they have been since the calendar flipped to 2025. A healthy dose of draft-lottery luck will do that to you, I guess.

After the Sixers won the No. 3 overall pick on Monday night, it should come as little surprise that most questions this week pertained to their options in the draft. However, some fans have already begun to think about trickle-down effects of that pick if they stand pat at No. 3 and take a guard, further crowding their already loaded backcourt.

With that in mind, let’s dive right into this week’s mailbag.

I’ve wondered the same thing about Rutgers. I’m getting some major Ben Simmons/LSU déjà vu.

Harper did miss a handful of games, which didn’t help matters. But a high-major assistant who faced Rutgers this season shed some light on why the Scarlet Knights were such a massive disappointment back in January.

“Those two are incredibly talented young men with very bright futures in the NBA, but they don’t try hard defensively,” the assistant told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. “In college, any time any team is built around two freshmen and those freshmen don’t necessarily have the maturity or intangibles of what goes into winning yet, it’s going to impact your team. That’s not saying they’re bad young men, they just don’t have what it takes to win yet.”

Not great, Bob! It gets worse.

“I’m not shocked by them not being great — at all,” the assistant added. “… You don’t have to guard everyone else. From a technical preparation standpoint, you don’t have to overly defend everyone else. The game plan is: How do you stop those two guys? They average a combined five assists. They pass out of necessity.”

A coach who faced Rutgers told Norlander that Dylan Harper is “about as good as it gets” both in terms of “draft potential and college impact.” He wasn’t as sold on Bailey, though.

“Bailey is inconsistent,” the coach said. “He’s an unwilling passer and a disinterested defender, and his shot selection is so bad that if he isn’t making ridiculous shots, they are in trouble. They don’t have enough shooting around those guys. And the guys that can shoot are bad defenders. The guys that do defend can’t shoot.”

Bailey also came in shorter than expected at the NBA draft combine (6’7½” without shoes rather than his listed height of 6’10”). I don’t think he’s a lock at No. 3 by any means, although I can see why the Sixers might be swayed by his shot-making ability.

I understand why you’re thinking along these lines, but I would not do this deal. LaMelo has played in only 105 of a possible 246 games over the past three seasons. The last thing the Sixers need is another player with major availability concerns.

LaMelo is undeniably a better playmaker than Maxey, and his size might make him an easier fit alongside Jared McCain and Quentin Grimes, but I also don’t know that the Sixers need a traditional point guard who has the ball in his hands every possession. McCain and Grimes both showed playmaking chops this past season, which should help get Maxey more off-ball reps next year, and the offense still figures to flow through Joel Embiid and Paul George as well.

During a recent interview with Mike Gill of 97.3 ESPN, head coach Nick Nurse discussed the Maxey-McCain pairing and how their overlapping skill sets could actually be an asset.

“We know we need to get Tyrese off the ball some just to let him display the shooting aspect of his game that he can do, and get him just some rest off the ball, really,” Nurse said. “Jared, we tried to put him on the ball to see what kind of point guard he was. And obviously, he played a lot of point guard in his younger years. And I really think they kinda coexist as both the 1 and 2, just kinda sharing both positions. I think they have assets at both of them, and I think it’s necessary that we have them both play each position.”

It’s fair to wonder how the Maxey-McCain pairing can hold up defensively, although Maxey made strides on that end of the floor this past season. Meanwhile, LaMelo has largely been an abomination on defense since entering the league.

I hate to sound like a total boomer, but the Sixers also need to think hard about the off-court impacts of moving Maxey if they do decide to trade him. People throughout the organization have been effusive about the impact that his relentless positivity makes on the rest of the team. I’m not quite as sold on LaMelo’s off-court demeanor, to say the least.

If the Sixers do take a guard at No. 3, I do think they’ll eventually have to move off one of Maxey, McCain or Grimes. I just wouldn’t do it for LaMelo.

My gut instinct says Maxey has more trade value than McCain. After all, we’re only one year removed from him averaging nearly 26 points and six assists per game en route to his first All-Star nod and the Most Improved Player award. Even though his efficiency dropped this past season, he still averaged a career-high 26.3 points per game and showed increasing comfort as the No. 1 option in the absence of Embiid and George as the year went on.

Maxey isn’t likely ever to be the best player on a championship team, but the same goes for McCain. He showed promising flashes amidst the Sixers’ injury-riddled start to the season, but he has only 23 regular-season games of NBA experience under his belt and is now recovering from a torn meniscus. There’s no reason to think that injury should affect him moving forward, but Embiid is living proof of how recovery from a meniscus tear is not always linear.

McCain being on a rookie-scale contract rather than a 25 percent max deal like Maxey is the only thing that makes this conversation close for now. Then again, that also complicates McCain’s trade value, as it’d be hard to swing a 1-for-1 swap that netted the Sixers equivalent value. He’d almost have to be included as part of a bigger package, whereas Maxey’s larger contract makes it somewhat easier to trade him.

Unless some team is in love with a prospect in this year’s draft not named Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper, I’d guess Maxey is the Sixers’ most valuable trade asset right now.

I won’t lie. I’d be tempted to do all four of these deals. But if I had to rank them, I’d lean toward going 1, 2, 4 and 3 in that order.

That 2027 unprotected Suns first-round pick is worth its weight in gold right now. Bradley Beal is under contract for them through 2026-27 and has the ability to veto any trade. While this year might have felt like rock bottom for the Suns, there’s a chance that the floor hasn’t fully fallen out on them yet.

So, the difference between the two Rockets trades comes down to what you value most: flipping Gordon and Drummond for Jabari Smith Jr. and Cam Whitmore or Drummond for Tari Eason. Although I’m a founding member of the Tari Eason Fan Club, I’d prefer taking two fliers on young guys who still might have untapped upside. Smith and Eason are extension-eligible this offseason, so there’s no real difference from that perspective.

With that said, I’d be shocked if the Rockets agreed to either of these deals. They already couldn’t find enough minutes for Reed Sheppard last season. Unless they’re that sold on Ace Bailey being the NBA’s next big thing, I’m guessing that they’ll hoard their assets for a swing on an established, win-now star, not another high-upside rookie.

The proposed Nets and Wizards trades seem more balanced. I’d slightly prefer the Wizards one, although I’d be fine with either. I lean toward the Wizards package because at least two of Bailey, VJ Edgecombe, Khaman Maluach, Tre Johnson and Kon Knueppel would be guaranteed to be available at No. 6, whereas all five could be gone by No. 8. Given the Sixers’ hit rate in the draft in recent years, I’d also love to see them get another swing at a mid-first-round pick.

Jake Fischer of The Stein Line did report that “teams are already mentioning Brooklyn as a team to monitor” when it comes to trading up, so they might be the Sixers’ likeliest trade partner if the Sixers decide to trade down. They own the Nos. 19, 26 and 27 picks in this year’s draft, so they could further sweeten their offer if this framework wasn’t enough for the Sixers.

Regaining control of the 2028 first-rounder would be huge, although the Sixers likely expect that to be a mid-to-late first-round pick barring another catastrophic wave of injuries. (It turns into a 2028 second-round pick if the first-rounder doesn’t convey in 2028.) That pick being top-eight-protected also protects the Sixers against true disaster scenarios, such as when the Los Angeles Clippers wound up handing the No. 1 overall pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2011.

Daryl Morey is already posturing that the Sixers aren’t interested in trading the pick, which is exactly what you’d say if you’re looking to stave off lowball offers for said pick. But knowing how he operates, I’d fully expect him to explore any and all options, whether that’s trading up, trading down or trading out of the draft entirely.

I’ve been driving the Trade Down Train for a while (even before the lottery), so I love this question.

As we covered earlier this week, the salary for each first-round pick is predetermined by the NBA’s rookie scale. Teams can offer each pick anywhere between 80 and 120 percent of the scale amount, although it’s rare for teams to offer anything other than the full 120 percent. In fact, their cap hit before signing their rookie contract is 120 percent of the scale amount, which is designed to prevent teams from exploiting any loopholes in that regard.

The scale amount for the No. 3 pick this year is $9,257,400, so his first-year salary will likely be $11,108,880. In this hypothetical, where the Sixers trade the No. 3 pick to the Brooklyn Nets for the No. 8 and No. 26 picks—I’d push for the Sixers’ own 2028 first-round pick back as well—the scale amount is $5,741,000 for the No. 8 pick and $2,403,800 for the No. 26 pick. If the Sixers gave the full 120 percent of the scale amount to both picks—$6,889,200 and $2,884,560, respectively—that would be $9,773,760 in total. That would amount to roughly $1.3 million in savings from just the No. 3 pick alone.

That might not sound like a lot, but every dollar matters when you’re dealing with the aprons, particularly if you’ve triggered a hard cap. They’d also be filling two roster spots instead of one, so you’d have to take those savings into account as well. A minimum deal for anyone with two or more years of NBA experience is projected to cost nearly $2.3 million next season. So, combine that with the scale amount of the No. 3 overall pick compared to Nos. 8 and 26, and you’re now up to roughly $3.6 million in savings with the latter route.

As always, a huge thank you to everyone for the questions! We’ll be back at the same time, same place next week. In the meantime… please, Knicks, finish the job.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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