How Can Bulls Match Up With Sixers in a Jahlil Okafor Trade?

Late Thursday night while you were probably sleeping, a CSN Chicago report surfaced that the Bulls have inquired about Sixers center Jahlil Okafor.

It's the first team we've seen connected to Okafor recently, 20 days before the NBA trade deadline. There doesn't seem to be a ton of interest in Okafor, who needs the right system and situation to be productive.

A running team isn't going to have much use for Okafor. A team that lacks a rim-protecting big man isn't going to have much use for Okafor. A team that has several scoring options and is in a decent place offensively isn't going to have much use for Okafor.

The right fit for Okafor would be with a half-court based offense, a team that isn't obsessed with scoring on the fast break. Teams like the Bulls, the Spurs, maybe the Mavericks.

Okafor's skill set limits the Sixers' leverage. Yes, he's just 21, and yes, he averaged 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds as a rookie, but we've seen little to suggest that he'll be able to improve upon the glaring weaknesses in his game.

Okafor tends to get pushed around by bigger centers. Look at Wednesday night in Dallas, when Okafor had one rebound and backup Mavericks big man Salah Mejri had 17. Big Jah can dazzle you with his unique low-post moves, like the baseline wraparound layup he had on Mejri, but is that enough to make him an effective, efficient player?

For these reasons, the Sixers can't expect a ton back in an Okafor trade. They're not selling him at peak value and they're not going to get anything close to 100 cents on the dollar. 

"So far, there's more interest on the Bulls' side than the 76ers' side, according to sources, but the Bulls are interested in Okafor's services," CSN Chicago's Vincent Goodwill wrote Thursday night.

So, what do the Bulls have that could make a trade worthwhile?

Let's look at a few possibilities:

Okafor for Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic
Talk about selling low. 

McDermott is not going to be a star. He's an NBA role player, a 6-foot-8 small forward who can shoot threes. The Sixers certainly had higher hopes than that for Okafor when they drafted him third overall a year ago.

McDermott is essentially a 3 with one valuable skill (long-range shooting) who can't defend other 3s.

Okafor is essentially a 5 with one valuable skill (low-post scoring) who can't defend other 5s.

Okafor still has more upside than McDermott, but does that even matter at this point? Someone like McDermott obviously is a better fit given the construction of the Sixers, who have so many centers that they can't find a single minute for two of them when all four are healthy.

I don't think a 1-for-1 trade involving McDermott would get Bryan Colangelo to make a deal, but I could see the logic of it. McDermott could potentially help this team on a nightly basis, something Okafor hasn't been able to do. McDermott probably wouldn't be playing more than 20 to 22 minutes per night with the Sixers, but he'd be a better option when they're trailing and need a bucket than, say, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.

Mirotic has taken big steps back as a three-point shooter, and if he's not hitting from distance he doesn't have much value. Including him in this one to make the salaries match.

Okafor for Michael Carter-Williams and Isaiah Canaan
KIDDING.

Okafor for Jerian Grant, Mirotic, future 1st-round pick
Blah. 

A trade like this would give the Sixers a few young pieces with potential, but so far there's been little to suggest Grant or Mirotic will be difference-makers.

I'm including this type of offer only to show how few real fits there are between the Sixers and Bulls.

Okafor and Ersan Ilyasova for Dwyane Wade, future first-round pick and pick swap rights
(Including Ilyasova in this one only to make the salaries match and because he's an impending free agent.)

I've argued with several people about this one. The automatic reaction seems to be, "Hell no." And I get it - Wade is 35, he's owed $23.8 million next season, and the Sixers are not one player away from contention.

But here's why it wouldn't be crazy.

When you look at the Sixers' roster, what is it they're lacking most? A guard who can get to the rim at will and be the go-to guy alongside Joel Embiid in crunch time. 

We've seen how solid and consistent Gerald Henderson has been for the Sixers this season. That matters. It's not just veteran presence, it's savvy, it's feel, it's the ability to draw fouls and hit midrange jumpers. Midrange jumpers are now viewed as inefficient shots, but with the way teams space and pass nowadays, it's still valuable to have a player who can knock one down. (See: Livingston, Shaun.)

Wade would also bring a lot to the Sixers off the court. There's no indication whatsoever he'd want to come here - after all, he's said often this season that he doesn't want to spend the final years of his Hall of Fame career on a rebuilding team. But it couldn't possibly be a bad thing to have Wade's killer instinct rub off on Embiid and Ben Simmons.

If the Bulls were to also offer a future first-round pick and pick swap rights - think about the Sixers-Kings trade involving Nik Stauskas - the Sixers would genuinely have to listen.

Chicago might be a mediocre-to-bad team for another few years, and those assets would allow the Sixers to piece together a nice trade package for another player or hold onto them to further supplement their growing core.

Look at this potential rotation, also acknowledging that the Sixers could make other improvements in the draft, free agency and via trade:

PG: Ben Simmons, T.J. McConnell
SG: Dwyane Wade, Gerald Henderson, Nik Stauskas
SF: Robert Covington, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
PF: Dario Saric, Free Agent X
C: Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel

That's probably a 45-ish win team with the potential for more. That sort of lineup pushes the Sixers forward, and again keep in mind that they own draft picks from other teams and have the Kings pick swap, so they don't need to focus on losing to get to the top of the draft.

Do I think Okafor for Wade and a future first-rounder is the best trade the Sixers could possibly find? No. But I think even 1½ years of D-Wade would do more for this franchise than Okafor can.

McDermott is still probably the best fit in a Sixers-Bulls trade, but it's far from a no-brainer.