With trading season about to heat up in the NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers will likely be looking for more help for their upcoming playoff push.
A few trades have already gone down, including the Los Angeles Lakers acquisition of Dorian Finney-Smith, so the Sixers may be better off trying to make a trade sooner rather than later.
One of the Sixers’ most pressing needs is a power forward. To solve this problem, Liberty Ballers floated New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones as a potential target for the Sixers. Jones’ appeal is obvious – he’s been floated before as a Sixers target – because of his accomplished resume as a defender and his reliability in other areas, including shooting and rebounding.
Because he is paid on a cheap contract, he wouldn’t be too hard to acquire from a financial standpoint.
What remains uncertain is whether the Pelicans would actually entertain trading him.
Jones’ availability remains in question
The Pelicans have been one of the worst teams in the league this season. Because of that, they have some decisions to make over the rest of the season regarding who’s a keeper and who’s a goner.
The Athletic’s Christian Clark reported that “there is little belief in NBA circles that the Pelicans will actually move (Jones)” on January 1. Productive players on team-friendly contracts like Jones rarely get traded unless they demand to be moved and a trade partner gives them an offer they can’t refuse.
Even if things have not worked out at all for the Pelicans, they have no incentive to give up Jones with how good he is all-around and how cheap his contract is.
If they made him available, there’d be another problem for the Sixers – plenty of teams would want him. Jones sure would make a lot of sense on the Sixers, but he makes a lot of sense on other teams, too.
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