:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60487367/usa_today_9979964.0.jpg)
From the Sixers’ PR:
PHILADELPHIA — JULY 25, 2018 — Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach Brett Brown announced today that the team has acquired forward-center Mike Muscala from the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade, which also involved Oklahoma City.
Philadelphia sends guard-forward Justin Anderson to Atlanta and guard-forward Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot to Oklahoma City. Atlanta also receives forward Carmelo Anthony and a protected 2022 first-round pick from Oklahoma City, while the Thunder acquires guard Dennis Schröder from the Hawks.
“Mike Muscala joins our program at a fantastic stage of his career. He has enjoyed some NBA success and his upside in the future is extremely bright,” Brown said. “We will use him both as a backup five and, at times, a power forward. His ability to shoot the ball and the energy with which he plays will help our basketball team.”
This deal was reported days ago, but it wasn’t made official as the Sixers were rumored to be working on a separate trade which was holding up the Muscala deal. Well, no other trade has been made, but Brian Windhorst did release a little nugget today:
I said they WANTED a first-round pick. Clearly they didn't get it.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 25, 2018
The tweet above from Windhorst is in response to a since-deleted from Ben Axelrod which read, “Windy just said on WKNR that the Cavs-76ers Kyle Korver deal would have involved Cleveland getting a first-round pick.”
So one might assume the Sixers were holding off on making the Muscala deal in order to first acquire Kyle Korver. (Why Korver first? Financial flexibility reasons.) Then, one might assume that once Cleveland made the laughable ask of a first-round pick for a 37-year-old Korver, the Sixers pulled out of the deal and made the Muscala trade official. That’s speculation; I have nothing to prove that was the sequence. But the timing of both the announcement and Windhorst’s report is certainly interesting.
As a side, let’s all let out a deep exhale that the Sixers weren’t willing to give up a first-round pick for Korver. He’d be a great addition, but it would be foolish to relinquish such high draft capital for Korver’s services.