We already had an inkling that the Philadelphia 76ers were looking to move one of their plethora of young big men.
Now comes this report from Shams Charania of Yahoo’s The Vertical indicating that Philadelphia is in talks to send Nerlens Noel to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal that would include Jeff Teague.
“Atlanta and Philadelphia are discussing a possible trade centered on Hawks guard Jeff Teague and 76ers center Nerlens Noel, league sources told The Vertical. The sides have discussed the deal recently, but an agreement isn’t imminent, sources said.”
While nothing seems to be imminent here, the deal would make sense for both sides.
Atlanta faces the real possibility of losing big man Al Horford in free agency. Adding a youngster in Noel would enable the team to move on from Horford instead of ponying up the big bucks to retain him.
With Dennis Schroder prepared to take over for Teague as Atlanta’s starting point guard, it makes sense that the Hawks would want to move the former All-Star.
Schroder averaged 11.0 points and 4.4 assists per game this past season. Meanwhile, Teague saw all of his major statistical numbers drop from a breakout 2014-15 campaign.
With Joel Embiid apparently ready to return after missing his first two full seasons in the NBA, Philadelphia might not have a place in the starting lineup for Noel.
That’s only magnified by the presence of 2015 No. 3 overall pick Jahlil Okafor and European star Dario Saric on the roster. Now take into account the fact that Philadelphia boasts the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and Noel could be the odd-man out.
A top-six pick back in 2014, Noel averaged 11.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore this past season.