April 12, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Jared McCain's Sixers legacy will live on through the Houston Rockets' 2026 first-round pick.
After trading second-year guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder in February for a 2026 first-round pick via the Houston Rockets and three future second-round picks, the Sixers will own the No. 22 or No. 23 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Houston finished the season with a 52-30 record, tying the Rockets with the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose first-round pick is owed to the Atlanta Hawks. At some point in the next few weeks, the NBA will hold a random drawing – effectively a coin toss – to determine which of the Sixers and Hawks will pick at No. 22 overall and which will pick at No. 23 overall.
The Sixers have a good recent history with draft tiebreakers:
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) April 13, 2026
2024: Won a four-way tie, picked No. 16 overall (Jared McCain)
2020: Won a three-way tie, picked No. 21 overall (Tyrese Maxey) https://t.co/ClCtDvm36I
Whether or not the Sixers will use this draft pick to select a member of the incoming rookie class or trade it to bolster their roster, of course, remains to be seen. After the trade deadline, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey indicated the team was pursuing a rotation upgrade involving the Rockets' first-rounder immediately after acquiring it but could not strike a deal.
The 2026 draft class is believed to be elite, not just at the top where four players could be No. 1 overall picks in an average year, but also in terms of its depth. Many are of the belief that picks in the range where the Sixers will now select are as valuable as late-lottery picks in normal classes.
"[W]e do think this draft is a good draft, but we're not necessarily using the pick in this draft," Morey said. "It could be used for moves around the draft. The three seconds that we got with it, we think could be used to move up in this draft. I and our front office have done a lot of deals over the years, and this just gives us more tools to make the moves that we think will help our future more than we saw in Jared, who we gave up. But that's not a comment on Jared."
MORE: Sixers future draft pick tracker
