The Sixers have been willing to trade any of their three core players all season long, but to make a deal for either Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes or Thaddeus Young, Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie has been holding out for a first round pick in return.
As the deadline approaches and teams get more desperate, things change.
It already has in relation to Hawes, who was sent to the Cavaliers in exchange for a couple of second round picks. The same is now reported to be true where Turner is concerned.
From Ken Berger of CBSSports.com
(via Basketball Insiders):Unable to secure a 1st-round pick in a deal for Evan Turner, Sixers may now take a 2nd as part of package for ’10 No. 2 pick, sources say.
Philly has plenty of room to take back salary for Turner and is averse to signing him to $9M qualifying offer this summer.
Turner a restricted free agent next summer, meaning that he is due a qualifying offer of close to $9 million if a team wishes to retain the right to match any offer receives. But that might be right around his market value in a new deal, and a team needs to be willing to commit those long-term dollars to Turner (or possibly even more) if it feels like giving up assets to acquire him this season.
The other thing to remember is that first round draft picks are being much more highly valued this year than in seasons past, due to the widely-held belief that this is one of the deeper drafts to come along in some time. That, along with Turner’s restricted free agent status (and the relatively high qualifying offer it would take to keep him that way) make it tricky for a team to give up all that much for him unless they plan on going all-in on him for the next several seasons.