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The Sixers have decided to send Jared McCain to the defending champion Thunder.
The team has agreed to trade McCain to Oklahoma City, a source confirmed Wednesday to NBC Sports Philadelphia. The Sixers are set to receive one first-round draft pick and three second-rounders in the deal. The full haul is below:
- 2026 first-round pick from the Rockets
- 2027 second-round pick, most favorable of OKC, Houston, Indiana and Miami
- 2028 second-round pick from the Bucks
- 2028 second-round pick from the Thunder
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the trade and PHLY’s Kyle Neubeck reported the terms.
McCain was awfully impressive as a rookie, displaying exceptional shooting talent and a deeply polished mental game, but he had unfortunate injury luck as a Sixer. He suffered a season-ending left knee lateral meniscus tear in December of 2024 and tore the UCL in his right thumb just before media day this year.
“The universe is throwing haymakers at me,” McCain said in October. “But it’s all part of the process. I’ve just got to trust that it happened for a reason.”
Once he returned to action, the 21-year-old guard dealt with lingering rust. McCain posted only 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest over 37 games this season. The No. 16 selection in the 2024 draft had two G League stints and wasn’t a regular member of head coach Nick Nurse’s rotation the past several weeks. However, he’d played well lately, including a 17-point performance on 6-for-8 shooting in the Sixers’ win last week over the Bucks.
Without McCain, All-Star Tyrese Maxey, outstanding rookie VJ Edgecombe and sixth man Quentin Grimes stand as the Sixers’ main guards. Whether or not Grimes re-signs this summer as an unrestricted free agent, the Sixers clearly envision the 20-year-old Edgecombe and 25-year-old Maxey as their backcourt of the future.
At 29-21 and on a five-game winning streak, the Sixers also hope to return to the playoffs (and fare well) this season. Whats moves might the team make to boost those ambitions?
In house, both Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker have looked worthy of being converted from two-way to standard contracts. Barlow’s back in the starting lineup following Paul George’s 25-game suspension and it would be very surprising if Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey did not keep the 22-year-old forward around.
Externally, we’ll see if Morey finds any deals that he likes. Adding wing depth, defensive rebounding and outside shooting would be logical. The trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.
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