You can’t fault the Spurs for taking that deal with the Raptors. They were not going to get a better deal than that. If the reports are to be believed, it’s easy to see why the Sixers never got far into the trade discussions with the Spurs.
First it was Manny Machado and now it’s Kawhi Leonard. We have another case of a Philadelphia sports team missing out on a superstar. While I believed the ship had long sailed on Kawhi a long time ago, many fans still held out hope that the Sixers could acquire the all-pro forward from San Antonio. Unfortunately, Gregg Popovich wasn’t willing to help out former assistant Brett Brown and trade Kawhi on a discount deal to Philly. You can’t fault the Spurs for taking that deal with the Raptors. They were not going to get a better deal than that. If the reports are to be believed, it’s easy to see why the Sixers never got far into the trade discussions with the Spurs.
In Derozan, the Spurs got a perennial all-star who is also one of the best scorers in the NBA. He will make sure the Spurs will remain a playoff team in the West for years to come. Which means, the Spurs were not interested in a deal that would have led to a rebuild. A trade of Dario, Covington, and picks did not move the needle at all in trade talks. Quite frankly, adding Fultz wouldn’t have made much of a difference either.
It was clear the Spurs wanted either Embiid or Simmons. It goes without saying the Sixers would never give up either of those guys. As it stands, the Sixers have struck out on adding a star his offseason. The goal of adding a star to go with Embiid and Simmons will have to be pushed off to next offseason. It’s a real a bummer because this was the offseason we were all waiting for. For the Phillies, adding Machado to the team in July would have been a bonus. The real goal is adding talent come December. For the Sixers, they will have to look back at the missed opportunities and get back to the drawing board.
