Grading the trade of Denver sending JaVale McGee and a 1-18 first-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for a trade exception:
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS RECEIVE: JAVALE MCGEE, 2015 PROTECTED FIRST-ROUND PICK
76ERS SEND: RIGHTS TO CENT AKYOL
GRADE: A
They got a first-round pick for nothing. Didn't have to give up a pick. Didn't have to send a player. Not a second-rounder, not a bench player. Nothing. They gave up nothing for a first-round pick. They reportedly surrendered the rights to Cent Akyol, who was drafted in 2005 (!) and has never played a game in the NBA, having played overseas all this time.
That pick is 1-18 protected in 2015, and 1-15 protected in 2016 and 2017. Currently 13 teams are projected to finish with better records than the Thunder, not counting the Phoenix Suns or New Orleans Pelicans. It's not inconceivable though that the Thunder could make a run. They're essentially right on the cusp of making this a first-rounder.
But that's just this year. The odds of the Oklahoma City Thunder finishing 15th or worse in the lottery order the next two seasons, even factoring Kevin Durant's free agency, are incredibly low. So this thing's probably going to be a first-round pick for Sam Hinkie.
However, if they don't make the 18 threshold, the Sixers still get two 2017 second-round picks. The only year the Sixers don't have additional second-round picks coming in through trades? 2017. So this is a win pretty much anyway you look at it.
They add McGee, who has injury and asthma issues, is most often featured on "Shaqtin' A Fool," has shown very little in the way of developing his game, and costs $12 million next season. But the Sixers have so much cap room thanks to their tank design, they can afford it, easily, and with no repercussions. This is a flyer on a 7-foot guy who's entering the next frame of his career when he might mature, and getting a first-rounder with it. It's also entirely possible they just buy out McGee, and pay the price for a first-rounder. Either way, really.
It's a good trade for the Sixers. It's not a great one, but it's a very good one.
DENVER NUGGETS RECEIVE: RIGHTS TO CENK AKYOL, $11.2 MILLION TRADE EXCEPTION
NUGGETS SEND: JAVALE MCGEE, 2015 PROTECTED FIRST-ROUND PICK
GRADE: C
The best way to think of this deal is in conjunction with their trade of Timofey Mozgov earlier in the season, and their trade of Arron Afflalo on Thursday. This gets a little tricky, try and stay with me here, because I get lost, too.
The Nuggets got two first-rounders for Mozgov, including the aforementioned OKC pick. Then they traded Afflalo (and Alonzo Gee) for three players and a lottery-protected 2016 pick which is almost certain to convey. If it doesn't, it takes the place of the OKC pick in becoming two 2017 second-round picks.
So they got two picks for Mozzy, traded for another pick for Afflalo, then sent one pick to Philadelphia, coming out with... two additional first-round picks total. They downgrade from possibly (but unlikely) getting the Thunder pick this year into almost definitely getting the Blazers' pick next year.
That takes the sting off of this statement: They traded Nene for JaVale McGee, then signed him to a four-year, $44 million contract, then traded him along with a first-round pick for nothing. Not great return on investment, one might say.
But McGee wasn't the fault of the current management group, that happened under Masai Ujiri's watch and the Nuggets have been trying to clean up after it ever since. McGee, along with his cantankerous attitude and space-cadet play, has asthma which limited him in Denver's altitude, and had leg injuries which kept him away from the team consistently for two years.
They needed to get rid of him, for money purposes, for locker room purposes, to give time to Jusef Nurkic, and to basically get the blight off the team.
You can say the trade exception is valuable. One was used in the Celtics-Nets-Cavaliers trade that involved Marcus Thornton and Jarrett Jack. But they are almost never, ever used and typically end up just expiring. I'm not a believer in them, but if you want to add that as a plus, you certainly can.
It's a passing grade, because it needed to happen and they limited the cost. It's an addition by subtraction move. You can't really reward that or say they "won" the deal, but it's fine, it's helpful, and in the big picture, cost them almost nothing.
