February 03, 2026
Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images
Is there any chance Giannis Antetokounmpo joins the Sixers by the end of this week?
In two days, pencils will be down – at least as far as trades are concerned – and it will be easy to tell the group of players the Sixers are carrying into the stretch run of the 2025-26 regular season and, they hope, a lengthy playoff run.
Predictably, the trade deadline nearing has prompted many questions about how far Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey is willing to go in order to improve his team. And Dominick Barlow's dominant performance to lead the team past the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night has prompted many questions about when and how the team will secure the eventual conversions of Barlow and Jabari Walker from two-way contracts to standard deals.
We will start with the question – or the trade target – on the minds of many folks in the area, the ultimate domino in the NBA trade market at this year's deadline, before moving to Barlow and Walker and then hitting on a question that pops up every now and then.
Time to answer some questions:
From @vbeets.bsky.social: Knowing Morey, I feel like he makes the Giannis Antetokounmpo deal. What say you?
Trading for the best player available on the market certainly sounds like a Morey-style move, yes, but the path the Sixers would need to travel in order to get there makes it unclear whether or not Morey would actually be ready to push the chips in.
Yes, a trio of Antetokoummpo, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey would be jaw-dropping. And even in the wake of Paul George's 25-game suspension, it stands to reason that he is more likely than Maxey or Embiid to be the main salary-filling piece being sent out by the Sixers in an Antetokounmpo trade. (For those wondering if Embiid's strong and healthy month of January will lead to the Sixers "selling high" on him: other teams' memories are not that short.)
But, just as Morey's lack of history selecting at the top of the draft made it harder to project who he would lean towards at No. 3 overall, his lack of history running teams with prodigious 20-year-old rookies makes it impossible to tell whether or not trading VJ Edgecombe is something he would ever consider. There are not many commodities more valuable in the NBA than a rookie who is always a positive-impact starter on both ends of the floor with clear room for improvement.
And, to be clear, that is what it would take for the Sixers to even be competitive in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. George is widely considered to be on one of the worst contracts in the NBA, so it would take an enormous amount of value for the Milwaukee Bucks to take him on in the same deal that sends out Antetokounmpo. Jared McCain and first-round picks will not be enough.
The argument for trading George and Edgecombe for Antetokounmpo is rather simple: it is a bet on Antetokounmpo, Embiid and Maxey forming the best trio of players in the NBA and one of the best in recent league history. The argument against it is just as understandable: the only superstar with a more ominous history of playoff injuries than Embiid is Antetokounmpo, and this move would represent an all-in push on both of those players at once.
There is no question that Morey will have interest in poking around, as most executives should when a player of Antetokounmpo's historic greatness becomes available. But there is not much evidence to inform any opinion about how he would handle Edgecombe's name coming up in trade talks amid a terrific rookie season.
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From @ElliotPo21: Is it 100 percent definite that both Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker would take the minimum salary for two-way players? What if Barlow thinks he’s worth more than that? That would have to factor into who the Sixers trade to duck the tax, right?
Unfortunately for Barlow and Walker – both players have done more than enough to earn standard deals and are worth more than a prorated minimum salary – they do not have much choice when it comes to salary this season. The Sixers hold most of the leverage in that, once the deadline passes, they will be the only team capable of putting either player on their standard roster. Tuesday's game against the Golden State Warriors will be the last one Walker can dress for on a two-way contract; Barlow has another four weeks or so of games covered by his two-way deal. After that, both players would need new contracts to be allowed to play.
It is not as if the Sixers have all of the leverage; Barlow is one of their starters and Walker is a trusted reserve even when he does not find his way into the rotation. Barlow set an emphatic tone in their wire-to-wire victory on Monday:
Dominick Barlow scored a career-high 26 points to go with 16 rebounds (10 offensive) in the Sixers' win over the Clippers on Monday night.
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) February 3, 2026
Full highlights from the best game of Barlow's young, promising NBA career: pic.twitter.com/OghfS0474k
However, both players would surely rather get a pay raise to the minimum salary – they make less than that as two-way signees – and be eligible to continue playing, which for each player is an opportunity to improve their stock around the league.
Where there might be more negotiating, though, is what the duration of their deals will be. Barlow would especially be better off taking a deal that just covers the remainder of the season so he could enter free agency immediately after proving himself to be a young, ascending rotation piece. The Sixers will aim for long-term deals with both players in an attempt to capitalize on their current leverage and secure multiple years of cost-effective production.
MORE: How do you fit with Embiid? Barlow and other teammates explain
From @norcal823: How large of a role do you believe Bob Myers is playing for the Sixers at the trade deadline?
Myers, the architect of the Golden State Warriors' dynastic core, joined Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment as "president of sports" in October. Given that Morey's job security was being called into question entering the season, the news triggered speculation that Myers was positioned to take over if ownership decided to move on from Morey.
There has been zero indication publicly or privately that Myers has become a decision-making force within the Sixers; his role pertains to all of the teams and properties owned by HBSE. For what it's worth: a source said at the time of Myers' hiring that he would still be based in California, often traveling for games or events tied to HBSE, rather than moving somewhere closer to any of the teams it owns. (Yes, the Sixers are spending their last four days leading up to the deadline in California.)
Until proven otherwise, the working assumption should be that Myers is not a power player within the Sixers front office. Morey is the lead shot-caller, with Elton Brand next in line and then a group of lieutenants including Ned Cohen, Ariana Andonian, Jameer Nelson and Prosper Karangwa.
MORE: 2026 Sixers trade deadline primer
