Even after a bad start to the season, the Philadelphia 76ers have not thrown in the towel. They are trending upwards after their most impressive win of the season against the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day.
The worst might be over, but there’s still a mountain to climb, and there’s no telling if they’ve reached a turning point. They could embrace the tank if they don’t fully turn their season around before the All-Star break.
There’d be a good reason to because Cooper Flagg has been highly regarded as a can’t-miss prospect and is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Before the Sixers won more games, former NBA stars urged them to pack it in.
That is still in play, and if they do, FanSided deemed the Sixers as the best landing spot for Flagg. They cited that Flagg would be playing for a win-now playoff team, which could work tremendously for both sides.
Another reason the Sixers may go for the tank
An extra incentive for the Sixers is they could potentially fork over the first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to the Al Horford trade from 2020. That pick is top-six protected, so odds are the Sixers would give it up anyway, but no team likes giving up a high lottery pick.
Throwing the season away in the hopes of keeping the pick and drafting Flagg definitely holds some appeal.
With all that said, it’d be a slap in the face to the fanbase to throw their season away when they are starting to see the results they had in mind when they constructed this roster in the offseason.
At the same time, it’s hard to think how it wouldn’t be worth seeing what this roster would look like with Cooper Flagg on it at no cost at all.
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