6:58pm: The Sixers have officially traded Markelle Fultz to the Magic for Jonathon Simmons, a protected 2020 first-round pick and 2019 second-round pick, the teams announced in press releases.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Markelle [Fultz] to the Magic family,” president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. “This is an incredible opporunity for us to add a former No. 1 draft pick to our roster and to add depth to our backcourt. We will provide Markelle with the best possible support at his own pace and look forward to his future contributions.”
1:45pm: The Sixers are trading former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz to the Magic, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). In exchange, Philadelphia will receive Jonathon Simmons, a future Thunder first-round pick, and a future Cavs second-rounder from Orlando, tweets Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
It’s a huge decision for the 76ers, just a year and a half after then-GM Bryan Colangelo sent the No. 3 pick (Jayson Tatum) and a future first-rounder to Boston in exchange for the right to select Fultz first overall.
The former Washington standout has barely seen the court since then, having been sidelined by shooting issues that some observers believe are mental. Fultz was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in December and continues his rehab process.
A source tells Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that Orlando will be patient with Fultz, taking the long view and potentially sitting him out the rest of this season if needed. However, the club will continue pushing for a playoff spot in the East this season.
Smith suggests (via Twitter) that the Magic opted to include the Thunder first-rounder in the deal so they’d only part with Simmons rather than Terrence Ross — Ross will remain with Orlando and help the team’s efforts to make the postseason.
The Thunder pick involved in the swap is OKC’s 2020 selection, which is top-20 protected and will turn into 2022 and 2023 second-rounders if it’s not conveyed next year. The pick, which was originally traded to Philadelphia for Jerami Grant, was subsequently sent to Orlando in a draft-night trade in 2017 for Anzejs Pasecniks. Now it’s headed back to Philadelphia.
The second-round pick included in the deal is technically the most favorable of Cleveland’s, Orlando’s, Houston’s, or Portland’s 2019 second-rounders. For now, that projects to be the Cavs’ pick.
In addition to those draft assets, the Sixers will acquire Simmons, a wing with some size who can immediately step into the club’s rotation. In 41 games this season for Orlando, Simmons averaged just 6.9 PPG on .364/.229/.778 shooting, but he was much better in his first year with the Magic, posting 13.9 PPG on .465/.338/.768 shooting in 2017/18.
Between this deal and their James Ennis swap with the Rockets, the Sixers were able to add two wings for depth purposes today while also replenishing their collection of draft picks that took a hit in Wednesday’s Tobias Harris trade.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
This is good for both teams. Dude get a fresh start and sixers get a bench player
If the Sixers win the NBA Championship you have to send Hinkie a ring. He’s got to be sitting back smiling today knowing he set Elton Brand up for success. You also send a ring to Colangelo’s wife for getting that idiot out of town.
Wow
Wow. Philly got one heck of a haul. I never thought they’d get a first-rounder, even if it’s the Thunder’s. Wow.
The fact that they even got the second is astonishing let alone all the rest.
Not really. A low first for a recent #1 picks is bad. Fultz still has a long way to go until he is Anthony Bennett
That’s true. As of now he is still worse than Bennett.
Lol. Love it
That sure isn’t much for the 1st overall pick in the draft.
This might be the best trade made today. It’s certainly not the worst…
I think they overpaid for Fultz. No way they should have given a late first rounder. Too many questions to be answered.
It’s absolutely worth the risk
I hear what you’re saying, but Philly didn’t have to do anything until next season – they don’t want him around for salary reasons.
So, if I was Philly, my plan would have been to get him rehab, get him playing in summer league, get him in camp, showcase him in the preseason, and then either flip him before the season starts or put him in the rotation until the trade deadline.
Assuming he plays well (and that’s not a crazy assumption – he was the 1st overall pick), he’s a hot commodity this time next year.
Orlando skipped all of that and gave up a late first (Thunder’s top 20 protected) and a decent 2nd.
I think that, if the draft was held over again, Fultz would get picked way before 20, even if there were all these question marks.
Orlando did great, and Philly probably dumped him too early…
And if he doesn’t play well, his value falls even more. Philly capitalized on a bad situation. Is it underwhelming value? Yes, but its the right move. Its a whole game of “What if”. If they kept him and he played well, then you get into the issue of whether or not to keep him or trade him. If he played poorly, then you get into the issue of the team waiting too long to get something of value for him. Fultz badly needed a change of scenery and this accomplishes that while also getting something of value back.
He was nuisance with no upside. It doesn’t matter what they got.
Related to Ben Simmons?
No.
Today is craziness.
I hope Fultz can get healthy and figure things out. It feels like people sometimes forget that he was the consensus #1 overall pick. Trading for him might not have been the best move, but picking him first was always the obvious thing to do.
Yes it is and hopefully a lot get announced past 3pm.
Anthony Bennett was the #1 pick also. As was Greg Oden, Kwame Brown….
Bennett was the first pick in a bad draft. Oden was *great* but he got hurt a lot. Brown was still in HS, and he’s one of the reasons that the NBA implemented an age limit.
I don’t think you’re being fair here. Fultz might not be a superstar, but he’s got the potential. A late first has the potential to come off the bench. This trade is a no-brainer for Orlando.
Philly probably could have done better waiting.
Oden is the biggest bust at #1 overall from 2000-Present. It’s b/c KD went directly after Oden. It’s almost as bad as Joe Smith with McDyess, Stackhouse, Wallace, and Garnett going directly after him.
Bennett/Fultz is a toss-up b/c their careers are complete trash. Olawakandi, Kwame and Bargnani all had long careers even if they never earned any accolades.
Don’t forget me! I may not have been the number one overall (can’t compete with LeBron), but getting drafted ahead of Melo, Wade, and Bosh deserves a shout out.
– Darko Milicic
Worst #2 overall picks. He is still behind Sam Bowie bc of Jordan. I’d go Thabeet 3rd worst with Harden right after, then Marvin William’s with Deron William’s and CP3 right after bc he is still in the league. So many terrible picks in the Top-5 of drafts tho.
Anthony Bennett was not the consensus first overall pick. Taking him first was a pretty big reach, even in a weak draft.
Are we naming #1 overall picks? Ben Simmons, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeAndre Ayton, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, John Wall…
You haven’t listed a bust yet.
Somebody missed the point
Nobody is allowed to forget Fultz was a former #1 pick. It is the only good thing that can be said about a guy some people continue to believe in despite no delivery. So it gets repeated a lot.
It’s not like with Jah Okafor, where you can point to the one big year. Fultz has nothing but money from suckers.
Sam Bradford of the NBA but worse. He can steal 40m and walk away with under 82 GP.
Youngest player to get a triple double I think. Somehow that happened
Got damn my boi! Fultz got traded smh ♂️, but that’s not a bad return for him, hope he turn his career around in ORL good luck
Colangelo was an idiot.
Hmmm… How do we know it isn’t just Colangelo posting this?
If it was Colangelo posting this, it would be defending the Fultz selection and hailing him as the reason the 76ers are where they are.
This looks bad in hindsight, but as another poster mentioned, Fultz was the consensus top pick that year.
Saying that Colangelo was an idiot is a bit unfair.
We don’t know that he’s not currently an idiot…
(In basketball talent acquisition at least – clearly he has a very strong track record as a smart/savvy leader when it comes to running a team or a business as the team president. Just don’t let him log on to Twitter.)
He was an idiot for trading up, with a rival known for fleecing teams in trades. He still has a job if he stood pat at #3 and took Fultz or anyone else that was deemed worthy of a Top-5 pick. He still has his job if he traded down to #5 and #10.
Trust the Process of a blind pig finding a couple of acorns.
The Fultz pick wasn’t even made by the same front office that started The Process. As much shit as The Process got, it netted the 76ers Simmons and Embiid as cornerstone players. Not to mention Covington and Saric (who were flipped for Butler). TJ McConnell has also proven to be a solid backup PG.
Fair enough. I suppose time will tell.
If this team clicks, Butler re-signs, and they make it to a Finals or two in the next 5 years, you will be right.
If Embiid’s body breaks down, Simmons never develops a jumper, Butler leaves, and they get the 6th seed next year, I will be right.
If any teams best player gets injured they will be worse off, you are correct. I would disagree that Simmons has to develop range to be successful. He is currently an all star (and should have been last year too) and doesn’t have a jumper…that’s pretty darn successful. If he develops one he will be a top 5 nba player. Giannis doesn’t have deep range and he is in the MVP conversation. Lebron didn’t have a jumper for quite some time and he was an all nba player.
It’s by process of elimination
I hope Fultz finds his way… the fresh start will hopefully do him some good. That’s quite a precipitous fall… a bench player and 20 something pick for last years #1… AND they traded up to get him last year. That Danny Ainge makes some slick moves.
Not the worst trade ever. Provided nothing to the team in his current state. 9M against the cap next year only becomes… 2019-20 guaranteed for $1M until Monday, July 1, 2019 for Simmons.
A 1st and a 2nd. More than I thought they could get and a player that is mainly there to defend. Would have preferred Ross or Augustin, but beggars can’t be choosers?
If this kid goes on to actually play well, I’ll be annoyed and Embiid should hard foul his butt all day when they play. Treat him like Westbrook’s kid brother and toss him into the stands lol.
The scale is Anthony Bennett, and he even has a 20-pt game to his name. Something Fultz does not.
Fultz has a triple double to his
In garbage time.
The Suns couldn’t freaking put something together better than Jonathan Simmons?!? Man it’s hard to root for this team..
LOL – I hear that! They’ve got the second worse owner in the NBA.
My guess is that they wanted to sell those draft picks to remodel one of Sarver’s yachts…
Suns? what what
Suns? Upvotes? what am I missing; Suns & Sarver not involved
Is this the most agreeable trade in NBA history? Great deal for both teams. Sixers putting it all on the line this year.
Is this the real Jason Kapono? You actually played with LeBron in his rookie year, didn’t you?
I hope Fultz gets healthy and has a fine career.
nothing like sending a headcase out of town to a team like Orlando. All that losing will be great for his psyche. Dude screwed Philly and now he will be out of the league in 2 years. Bye Bye Fultz!
He didn’t screw us. BC screwed us for not only picking the kid, but trading up to get him #1 overall.
He was the consensus top pick at a position of need. And look at what they gave up, the Kings pick in a weak draft that has a chance to be outside the lottery…that trade doesn’t sting nearly as much as people are hyping it
Surprised we got a first for him, thought we were gonna have to give up some picks just to get rid of him
We got our own first round pick back, yey!
I wonder how Hinkie feels watching Brand use all the assets he got for the Sixers to build a playoff team that Brand will get all the credit for.
This is the reason he accumulated all the assets. Time to cash in. I’m sure Hinkie supports it.
Solid for both teams. Fultz might develop into a star but he’d never get that opportunity on the sixers now that they’re a win now team
Sensible move for both sides. And I’m glad Fultz ended up with a lower-pressure franchise. If it’s true that his issues are at least in part mental, maybe this will allow him to get right on that end. Best of luck to him.
Dumping Fultz at this point shows that the sixers clearly think Fultz can’t play.
Prediction… plays enough for Magic to foolishly pick up 4th year option. Returns to specialists and rehab. Out of the league with just shy of 40M and less than 1 full season of play.
Honestly, good riddance. From the immature Instagram posts and coming across as a total headcase ( please don’t bring up his age because he’s the same age as my son who has 1 yr in Baghdad and 1 yr in Kabul under his belt) I don’t care how the rest of his career works out. Just glad Sixers can leave this mistake behind them.
And no more dealing with Ainge.
For the sake of Philly I hope Fultz becomes one day the all-star player that he is meant to be. That would be a win-win situation for him & Philly. Go Markelle!
I have been saying Magic GMs Weltman/Hammonds are conservative. Scratch that: foolish. They surrendered picks for a fail.
Now I suspect they don’t have an inside track to signing Vucevic in the summer either; he is gone, and Bamba just had calf stress surgery.
Read Weltman’s dumb voice in the italics above. He actually thinks he got something.
They did not trade picks to dump Simmons…
Woj reports only $1m is guaranteed on his next years salary of $6m. Well I guess they saved that $1m and maybe $2m for the rest of this year.
But they gave up a 1st & 2nd, and they have to pay for the more expensive Fultz, for probably little or no prodution. Well his ‘recovery’ can distract fans from the team coming up short again.
I agree that Orlando was perplexing at the trade deadline. They are in no man’s land right now. Magic had a good number of trade chips where they could have gotten a player to help make a playoff push. Conversely, they have some valuable trade chips that could have been offloaded for a haul, allowing them to continue building for the future. But with their deadline actions they will likely miss the playoffs and lose Vucevic. Baffling strategy.