Sixers Notes: Okafor, Rebuilding, Hinkie

Jahlil Okafor will strongly consider signing his qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in 2019, league sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. That’s quite a ways off, Berger acknowledges, but he nonetheless cites a league source who refers to Philadelphia’s rebuilding project as a five- or six-year affair, and no guarantee exists that the Sixers, who look to avoid an 0-19 start as they face the Lakers tonight, will be any better in four years than they are now. See more on Okafor and the Sixers:

• One agent is promising he’ll keep his players away from the Sixers, and an executive from another team thinks that of the 16 players on the Sixers roster, five of them don’t belong in the NBA, Berger reports in the same piece. Another agent and a coaching industry source who spoke with Berger cited a dearth of regard for the human element in Philly’s rebuilding plan, with the agent contending that the Sixers lack communication and transparency.
• A representative of Okafor who spoke with TMZ Sports denies that he used a fake ID in a failed attempt to gain entry to a bar in Philadelphia about a month ago. John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com cited two sources when he reported the story of Okafor’s alleged fake ID, the latest news of off-court trouble involving this year’s No. 3 overall pick. A league source told Chris Broussard of ESPN.com that the center’s handlers made a request that the Sixers provide him with a security guard whenever he goes out from now on, but Okafor’s rep contends that story is also untrue, as the TMZ report reveals.
• The majority of the writers on ESPN Insider’s 5-on-5 panel believe the Sixers’ rebuilding isn’t working as intended, but they still feel as though the team is at least somewhat closer to title contention than when GM Sam Hinkie took control in the spring of 2013.