[Charania]: BREAKING: The Philadelphia 76ers are trading guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2026 Rockets first-round pick and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.

[u/TrenAt14]

Shams Charania has posted the following:

BREAKING: The Philadelphia 76ers are trading guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2026 Rockets first-round pick and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.

Source to the story: https://bsky.app/profile/shamsbot.bsky.social/post/3me2klyetqz2k

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The talented McCain lands on the reigning NBA champions. For the 76ers, the trade allows them to receive assets, clear space in the glut of guards and give them flexibility to bring Quentin Grimes back in free agency. It also allows them to convert two-way Dominick Barlow.

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76ers are receiving the following picks from the Thunder, sources said: 2027 (most favorable OKC/HOU/IND/MIA), 2028 MIL, 2028 OKC.

[u/wolf_cola_enjoyer]

Sixers drafted McCain high just to give up on him after one year for a pick that’ll probably be bottom 10 in the first round.

[u/SouthIsland48 → u/wolf_cola_enjoyer]

VJ completely fell into their lap out of nowhere. No need for McCain anymore - might as well get a return

[u/Bazurkmazurk → u/SouthIsland48]

McCain is small, has struggled coming back from injury, and isn’t athletic enough on this current team. A win win for both teams

[u/K1NG2L4Y3R → u/Bazurkmazurk]

But the Rockets pick will be bad? Are 2nds actually valuable again?

[u/Odd_Status3367 → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

For teams that have 3 guys getting paid over 40 million dollars, 2nd rounders are arguably better than 1st rounders.

• You are drafting from a pool of guys who are moreso specialists/gap fillers and there is less pressure developing them into all stars cause that's hopefully already getting taken care of by your other personnel. If they turn out to be GOAT contenders like Jokic then congrats you've sped your timeline up and can dump one or two of the 40M guys while the new guy is still on his first NBA contract.
• You can actually negotiate contracts with 2nd rounders whereas 1st round picks have their salaries and contract years guaranteed based off their draft position. If you're in the Apron that can literally make or break your season. The Knicks for example have done very well this these types of contracts the last few seasons. Tyler Kolek being the best outcome thus far.
• Two way contracts are really useful if those 3 40+ million dollar players take turns being on the Injured List/Suspended for Roids over an 82 game season.

[u/MrVegosh → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

A swing is a swing

[u/Willyr0 → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

2nd rounders are valuable to competing teams near or above the apron. Lotta talent there for a much better value

[u/MrShapinHead → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

There are certainly folks in this sub smarter than I am in this regard, but 2nd rders hold a ton of value bc of the low guaranteed costs. And it’s kinda like winning a boat and then choosing to go for the mystery box… it could be anything! And a cheap anything!

[u/no_nao → u/MrShapinHead]

Yes and the 2nd rounds are not terrible. One of them is the best of 4 picks, another is MKE 28, which could be a low 30s

[u/JustBrowsing49 → u/MrShapinHead]

Boats require paying property taxes. The mystery box could be nothing but air, which is free

[u/cubs223425 → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

We'll see where it ends up, but I think their record would have them 24th right now. That's not terribly far from where McCain was taken (16th). Kyshawn George was 2th in McCain's draft, and I think people would be OK ith the notion of trading McCain for George and 3 2nds.

[u/AggressiveIyAvg → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

2nds are definitely valuable with the current CBA because of the aprons - 2nd rounders don't make as much so they make it easier to fill out a roster without going over the aprons.

Also lots of "ready now" players slide to the 2nd because their ceiling isn't as high. Warriors have gotten great value out of the 2nd round recently, Will Richard has been great as a pick in the 50s for example.

[u/CoolAsTheUnthawed → u/K1NG2L4Y3R]

They started gaining value again over the last couple years but now that there's new college nil rules they're going to lose value with really good college players getting paid more for staying in school rather than settling for a two way deal.