The 76ers’ biggest mistake of the 2026 NBA trade deadline

At the 2025-26 NBA trade deadline, the Philadelphia 76ers did nothing to improve their team.

Well, in Daryl Morey’s opinion, Philadelphia is in a better position than it was a day ago, as it was able to trade Jared McCann to the reigning and defending NBA Champions for a high price and then promote Dominic Barlow to a standard NBA contract to help fill his spot on the roster, but did fans really buy into it? The 76ers already had a roster spot available before the trade deadline, and Morey was also able to open up Eric Gordon and a second-round pick for good measure.

Considering that Joel Embiid apparently asked the 76ers to not only keep their team together, but also add additional firepower heading into the playoffs, are the 76ers really better off with Kyle Lowry playing actual minutes, as they did against the Portland Trail Blazers due to Quentin Grimes’ illness, and compared to keeping Dellen Terry on a two-way contract when their Had a Rookie of the Year finalist on the pass bench who could knock the heck out of a 3-pointer?

While opinions will certainly vary on that question, it’s hard to imagine that many fans would agree on how Morey addressed the 76ers’ needs at the deadline.

But how should the 76ers have handled the trade deadline? Is there a situation they should have targeted? A step he should not have taken? Or is there someone sitting there whom Morey missed? Well, while it’s impossible to know what was available at the deadline and what kind of return they would have commanded, the 76ers decided to go low at both guard positions when they really should have added another quality player like Saddiq Bey from the New Orleans Pelicans, who checked many of the boxes for the team heading into the playoffs.

The 76ers should have traded for Sadiq Bey before the trade deadline

On paper, it’s hard to imagine a player 76ers fans would want to acquire more than Sadiq Bey.

Bey is a product of Villanova, where he played on a pair of Big East champions from 2018-20, a double-digit scorer in each of his first seven NBA seasons, and the kind of 6-foot-8 combo forward who can play up or down the roster with players like Kelly Oubre, Paul George and Barlow.

Drafted into the Association by the Detroit Pistons with the 19th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, two spots before Tyrese Maxey moved off the board to Philadelphia, Bey’s career has been remarkably similar after a few seasons on the main line. Regularly selected as the fifth/sixth man, Bey has never averaged less than 11.6 points per game throughout the season, his career total of 14.4 points per game with 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and .9 steals.

After missing all of last season while recovering from an ACL injury, Bey put to rest any doubts about what kind of player he could be for New Orleans in his first 48 games of action, averaging a career-high 16.6 points with 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and .9 steals in just 30.4 minutes of action per game. Playing alongside several other frontcourt players like Derrick Queen and Zion Williamson, Bey has performed well on the court and really got things going in 2026, recording at least 30 points on three occasions, including a season-high 36 against the Memphis Grizzlies on January 23.

Which other teams did the Beys beat by 30? Well, that would be the Minnesota Timberwolves and 76ers, who saw the local college product score 34 just before the trade deadline.

When the 76ers welcomed the Pels to town, it seemed like Bey had something to prove whenever he had the ball in his hands, at one point yelling something at the Philadelphia bench after a particularly impressive shot.

What did he say? Trade for me? We may never know, but it’s not hard to see how Bey would fit in on the 76ers.

On the court, Bey may be the 76ers’ fifth starter for the remainder of the season, regardless of whether PG is available to play or not. He can serve as a small forward next to Barlow in the short term, play power forward next to George in the long term, but either way, will play a very clear role: knocking down 3-pointers better than Barlow, Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker on the fourth, rushing for rebounds after missed shots, and occasionally taking over on a random play when his team needs a spark. Is.

On the books, Bey is an even better fit for the 76ers. Now on his third NBA contract, Bay signed a three-year, $20 million contract with the Washington Wizards in free agency in the summer of 2024 despite his injury and is still under contract next season at only $6.4 million. That’s just $1.4 million more than Andre Drummond made this season and in line with the two-year, $16.3 million deal the 76ers signed Oubre during their final round of free agency.

Considering Bey averaged more points per game at a young age than Oubre, most teams with three players on max contracts would have this kind of value, especially considering the 76ers had a trade exception from last year’s KJ Martin contract that they could have included without giving up a single player, even if a guy like Drummond was included in this deal for cap purposes.

If the 76ers had traded McCann for Bey, fans wouldn’t have been happy, but they likely would have seen reason to, taking the team’s fourth guard and turning him into their best power forward for next season as well, thanks to his age and his contract. But could the 76ers have used the three second-round picks they acquired from the McCann deal — though crucially the Rockets’ 2025 first-round pick was not used — as well as the pick they traded for Gordon to bring Villanova back to the big Delaware Valley? Now this would have been the kind of move Embiid would have been proud of, as it would have made the team better now, better in the future, and most importantly, would have proven to everyone in the 76ers arena that this is a team worth investing in, which is not the impression left by the actual trade deadline results.