The Philadelphia 76ers will acquire Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III from the Golden State Warriors for future draft picks. Here are NBA Trade Grades for both sides.
With the 2020 NBA Trade Deadline less than 24 hours away, the league is rapidly dividing into buyers and sellers. To the surprise of no one, the Golden State Warriors started shipping off useful players for draft capital, while the Philadelphia 76ers made a move to solidify their bench depth.
As first reported by The Athletic‘s Shams Charania Wednesday night, the Sixers have made a deal to acquire Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III from the Dubs. In return, the Warriors will receive three future second-round draft picks.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, those picks will be a 2020 second-rounder from the Dallas Mavericks, a 2021 second-rounder from the Denver Nuggets and a 2022 second-rounder from the Toronto Raptors.
76ers Get
Alec Burks
Glenn Robinson III
Warriors Get
2020 2nd round pick (via Mavs)
2021 2nd round pick (via Nuggets)
2022 2nd round pick (via Raptors)
With the details of the deal out of the way, how did each side fare in the exchange? To sort it out, here are the latest NBA Trade Grades.
Golden State Warriors
Sporting the worst record and third-worst point differential in the association, the Warriors were wise to ship off a couple of their sell-high assets — especially guys like Burks and Robinson, who were heading for free agency this summer and topped out as bench guys on a fully healthy Golden State team anyway.
Three second-round picks isn’t much to be excited about. Though things can quickly change with a single injury or trade request, those picks all project to be in the 48-60 range. That doesn’t make them terribly valuable, even if it’s also true that neither Burks nor GRIII was ever going to command a first-rounder.
However, the Warriors have turned a season of misery into noteworthy draft capital. Accruing those kinds of assets may not seem like much now, but they can be used as sweeteners in deals down the road, or, given Golden State’s propensity for drafting well in the second round, become young and cost-effective contributors on a team that will fancy itself a contender once Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are healthy next season.
Again, not one of these three second-rounders is valuable in and of itself, nor is that return package particularly sexy, but it’s solid business and asset accumulation at least.
Grade: B-
Philadelphia 76ers
As the team that fancies itself the greatest threat to the Milwaukee Bucks’ reign out East, the 76ers don’t have the 3-point shooting or bench depth to make good on that claim. As such, general manager Elton Brand has made a deal to address both issues with his top-heavy roster.
Realistically, this is about as good as it was going to get for the Sixers without making significant changes to the core. Giving up three second-rounders for two guys who may wind up being half-year rentals feels like a lot, but Philly has a ton of extra picks in the future, and it didn’t have to give up any of its more valuable ones:
In terms of what the Sixers are adding to their roster, which ranks 21st in 3-point percentage and 28th in bench scoring, both Burks and Robinson are in the middle of career years — though that probably has more to do with the state of the shorthanded Warriors than anything else.
Burks is averaging 16.6 points in his 29.0 minutes per game (both career highs) while chipping in 4.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists a night. He’s shooting a healthy 37.5 percent from 3 on 4.7 attempts per game, and will be more than capable of providing a scoring punch off the bench.
As for Robinson, he’s more than doubled his prior career-best scoring numbers, averaging 12.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while posting extremely tidy .481/.400/.851 shooting splits. At 6’6″, his length (and Burks’) will help the Sixers on both ends of the floor, even in shortened minutes on a contender. Their status as unrestricted free agents this summer also helps maintain flexibility for the summer.
There’s still work to be done for Brand, however, since his roster now stands at 17 players. That means Philly either needs to work out another trade or waive two players.
Wojnarowski reports the Sixers will seek out another deal, with the most likely dropped cargo being someone from the Jonah Bolden–Norvel Pelle–Raul Neto–Shake Milton–Zhaire Smith–Kyle O’Quinn–Trey Burke group. In any case, adding two capable bench scorers — both of whom can shoot — is a great move, especially when it only comes at the cost of three second-rounders than aren’t even among Philly’s most valuable.
Grade: A-