The 76ers’ biggest mistake at the 2026 NBA trade deadline

In the period 2025-26 NBA trade deadlinethe The Philadelphia 76ers have done nothing to improve their team.

All right, in Daryl Morey’s opinion, Philly is in a better place than it was the day before, since he could sell high on Jared McCain the reigning and defending NBA champions and then managed to promote Dominic Barlow to a standard NBA contract to help fill his roster spot, but did the fans really buy it? The 76ers already had a roster spot available before the trade deadline, and Morey could as well they trade Eric Gordon and a second round pick to open another one for good measure.

Considering that Joel Embiid has explicitly asked the 76ers to not only keep his team together, but to add some extra firepower in the playoffs, are the 76ers really better off playing Kyle Lowry in real minutes, as they did against the Portland Trail Blazers due to Quentin Grimes’ illness, and having Dahleen Terry who could have been in the Rock’s two-way finals? contract for one year. shoot the hell out of the three?

While opinions are sure to differ on the matter, it’s hard to imagine too many fans will agree with the way Morey has addressed the 76ers’ needs at the deadline.

But how were the 76ers supposed to handle the trade deadline? Is there a position they should have aimed for? A move they shouldn’t have made? Or the one sitting right there that Morey missed? Well, while it’s impossible to know what was available at the deadline and what kind of return they would command, the 76ers decided to go easy on both guards when they really needed to add another quality wing player like Saddiq Bey of the New Orleans Pelicans, who checked many of the team’s boxes heading into the playoffs.

The 76ers were supposed to trade for Saddiq Bey before the trade deadline

On paper, it’s hard to think of a player 76ers fans would love to acquire more than Saddiq Bey.

Bay is a product of Villanova, where he played for a pair of Big East champions from 2018-20, a double-digit scorer in each of his first seven NBA seasons, and the kind of 6-foot-8 combo forward who can play up or down the roster alongside players like Kelly Oubre, Paul George and Barlow.

Drafted into the association by the Detroit Pistons with 19th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Drafttwo spots before Tyrese McKay went off the board to Philadelphia, Bay had a remarkably similar career after a couple of seasons on the main line. Routinely selected as a fifth/sixth man, Bey never averaged less than 11.6 points per game throughout the season, with career totals of 14.4 points per game to go along with 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 0.9 steals.

After missing all of last season recovering from a torn ACL, Bay silenced any doubts about what kind of player he could be for New Orleans through his first 48 games, averaging a career-high 16.6 points to go along with 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 0.9 steals in just 30.4 minutes per game. Bay moved well on the court playing alongside a number of other frontcourt players like Derrick Quinn and Zion Williamson, and really stepped things up in 2026, scoring at least 30 points on three occasions, including a season-high 36 against the Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 23.

What other teams did Bay drop 30 on? Well, that would be the Minnesota Timberwolves and the 76ers, who saw the local college product rated at 34 just before the trade deadline.

When the 76ers welcomed the Pels to town, Bay seemed to have something to prove every time he had the ball in his hands, at one point shouting something to the Philly bench after a particularly impressive shot.

What did he say? Trade for me? We may never know, but it’s not hard to see how Bey would fit in with the 76ers.

On the court, Bay could be the 76ers’ fifth starter for the rest of the season, whether or not PG is available to play. He could serve as the next Barlow’s small forward in the short term, play power forward next to George in the long term, but either way, he’d have a very clear role: knock down open threes better than Barlow, Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker in the four spot, run for rebounds after missed shots and take over the occasional random play when his team needs a spark.

On the books, Bey is an even better fit with the 76ers. Now on his third NBA contract, Bey signed a a three-year, $20 million contract with the Washington Wizards in free agency despite his injury in the summer of 2024 and is still under contract next season at just $6.4 million. That’s just $1.4 million more than Andre Drummond is making this season and in line with the two-year, $16.3 million contract the 76ers signed Oubre to during the last round of free agency.

Considering Bay is averaging more points per game at a younger age than Oubre, that’s the kind of value most teams with three max players would kill for, especially considering the 76ers had an exception to last year’s KJ Martin deal that he could get in without giving up a single player, even if Drummond was in a cap deal anyway.

If the 76ers had traded McCain for Bay, fans wouldn’t be happy, but they’d probably understand the reasoning, take the team’s fourth guard and transform him into their best forward with a better player for next season as well, thanks to his age and contract. But did the 76ers use the three second-round picks they got from the McCain deal — though crucially not the Rockets’ 2025 first-round pick — plus the pick they traded along with Gordon to bring Villanova back to the greater Delaware Valley? Now, that would be a move Embiid would be proud of, because it would allow the team to be better now, to be better in the future, and most importantly, to prove to everyone in the 76ers sphere that this is a team worth investing in, which is not exactly the impression that the actual results of the trade deadline leave.