April 15, 2026
Brad Penner/Imagn Images
Can the Sixers continue to find success stories in the NBA Draft each year?
After clinching a spot in the 2026 NBA Playoffs with a win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, the Sixers will officially convey their 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder, completing the trade that was Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey's very first transaction after taking over the team in 2020.
Looking to shed the final three years of Al Horford's onerous contract, Morey traded Horford to Oklahoma City along with a protected first-round pick in exchange for Danny Green, the veteran role player whose contributions to the Sixers ended up being significant. Green spent years starting for the Sixers and was a critical part of the team's turnaround after a 2019-20 season that prompted front-office upheaval.
That first-round pick was initially slated to be conveyed in 2025, five years after the trade was made. It had a top-six protection; the Sixers' pick landing that high felt inconceivable. It did until the nightmare that was the 2024-25 season; the Sixers went 24-58 and ended up with the No. 3 overall pick, netting them VJ Edgecombe.
The obligation rolled over to 2026, this time with a top-four protection. Now officially out of the lottery, the Sixers will send the pick to the Thunder.
There are additional implications, though. When the Sixers traded Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets for James Harden at the trade deadline in 2022, they also sent away two future first-round picks. One has already conveyed. The other was initially reported as a 2027 top-eight protected first-round pick. Due to the "Stepien Rule," which mandates that a team cannot be without a first-round pick in consecutive future drafts, the Sixers really agreed to send Brooklyn a first-rounder two years after satisfying their obligation to the Thunder.
If the Sixers had not given Brooklyn that first-rounder by 2028, according to the terms of the trade, they would instead send a 2028 second-round pick to the Nets. So if the Sixers missed the playoffs this season by losing back-to-back Play-In Tournament games, and then made an improbable jump into the top four, they would have not just kept their first-round pick away from Oklahoma City in 2026, but also safeguarded their 2028 first-round pick. It would have been ineligible to send to Brooklyn because the Sixers' obligation to Oklahoma City would have rolled over to 2027.
Now, the Sixers' 2026 first-round pick is officially out of the organization's control, and unless their 2028 first-rounder lands in the first eight picks, that pick will be, too.
The Sixers will have a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft; the Jared McCain trade with Oklahoma City landed them a pick that will end up slotting in at No. 22 or No. 23 overall, depending on the results of a tiebreaker.
