After trying desperately to trade him for a year (an effort that is ongoing but fruitless), the Philadelphia 76ers are getting out of the Jahlil Okafor business after this season.
Multiple reports broke the news the Sixers would not pick up the fourth-year, rookie-scale option on Okafor for next season. That will make him an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Jahlil Okafor's fourth-year option will not be picked up by the #Sixers, according to a team source.
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) October 31, 2017
Jahlil Okafor's tenure with #Sixers will end following this season. Source confirms the team will not pick up his fourth-year option.
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) October 31, 2017
The Sixers have since confirmed it.
Sixers picked up options on Simmons, Saric, Anderson and TLC, not Okafor. pic.twitter.com/3iLYg5Dx5N
— Jessica Camerato (@JessicaCamerato) October 31, 2017
A trade is still not out of the question.
Philadelphia had been exploring trade possibilities with Jahlil Okafor until declining option today. He could still be moved this season. https://t.co/ofC5KpG6l8
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 31, 2017
Or, maybe the two sides agree to a buyout.
Sources say Okafor may opt to push for a buyout agreement now that the former No. 3 overall pick will be an unrestricted free agent in July
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 31, 2017
Okafor was the No. 3 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, behind Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, but ahead of Kristaps Porzingis. Okafor had won a national championship at Duke and looked like a guy who could come into the NBA and get buckets right away.
His fall to not having the last year of his rookie scale contract picked up — and how now, finally healthy, he is on the outside looking in at the Sixers’ rotation — speaks to how fast the game has changed for NBA bigs.
The days of a player having high value just because he can get buckets in the post are gone, a throwback to a bygone era. And that’s what Okafor is — a solid low post big with an array of moves who also is good in isolation, but he stops the ball on offense. Plus, he has almost no shooting range, he doesn’t defend well, and he’s had a torn meniscus in the past.
The Sixers have a logjam up front — Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Amir Johnson, Dario Saric — Okafor was the odd man out picking up DNP-CD’s nightly (he’s gotten 22 minutes in one game this season). Philly has tried to move him for more than a year, but no decent offer has come their way (at least from the Sixers’ opinion).
Okafor deserves a fresh chance in the NBA. His ultimate role will be scoring off-the-bench big, think Al Jefferson or a poor man’s Zach Randolph. Those guys have below-the-rim games like Okafor, but were able to carve out good careers. Okafor isn’t going to fit anywhere — he’d be a disaster in systems such as in Houston or Golden State — but a team that plays a little slower and needs some buckets off the bench might take a long look. Next summer, in a tight market, somebody is going to pick him up at a bargain price.
Then, when he finally gets some run, we’ll see if he can fit in today’s NBA or not.
That is just not happening in Philly.