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Sixers Acquire George Hill In Three-Team Trade

March 25th 2021 at 7:15pm CST by Luke Adams

7:15pm: The trade is now official, according to press releases from the Sixers and Knicks. The deal breaks down as follows:

  • Sixers acquire Hill and Brazdeikis.
  • Thunder acquire Bradley, Rivers, the Sixers’ 2025 second-round pick, and the Sixers’ 2026 second-round pick.
  • Knicks acquire Ferguson, Poirier, the Sixers’ 2021 second-round pick, the Heat’s 2024 second-round pick (top-55 protected; from Sixers), and the draft rights to Emir Preldzic (from Sixers).

The Knicks’ acquisitions of the Heat’s protected 2024 second-rounder and Preldzic’s rights weren’t reported earlier, but neither is a difference-making asset, as the pick will only be conveyed if it falls between 56-60 and Preldzic is unlikely to ever play in the NBA.

New York will waive Poirier now that the deal is official, as we relayed earlier.

11:52am: The Sixers, Thunder, and Knicks are finalizing a trade that will see George Hill land in Philadelphia, according to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (all Twitter links).

The Thunder are receiving Tony Bradley and Austin Rivers, according to Wojnarowski, who says Philadelphia will send Terrance Ferguson to New York and will acquire Ignas Brazdeikis from the Knicks (Twitter link). Vincent Poirier will join Ferguson in heading from Philadelphia to New York, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.

The Sixers are also sending a pair of second-round picks to Oklahoma City, per Wojnarowski, who tweets that those second-rounders will be Philadelphia’s own in 2025 and 2026. Meanwhile, Steve Popper of Newsday reports (via Twitter) that the Knicks are acquiring Philadelphia’s own 2021 second-rounder.

While the 76ers were viewed as one of the top suitors for Kyle Lowry, it appears they’ve opted to go in a different – and less costly – direction, addressing the point guard position by acquiring Hill, a steady veteran who has a ton of postseason experience.

The 34-year-old Hill averaged 11.8 PPG and 3.1 APG with a .508/.386/.840 shooting line in 14 games (26.4 MPG) for the Thunder before he was sidelined by a thumb injury. It’s not clear how much more time he’ll miss, but a report this week indicated he’s out of his cast and is working toward a return. Presumably, Philadelphia is confident about his ability to contribute down the stretch.

Hill’s $10MM salary for the 2021/22 season only has a small ($1.28MM) partial guarantee, so the Sixers will have some flexibility during the offseason as they consider whether or not to hang onto him.

As for the Thunder and Knicks, the two rebuilding clubs will add to their ever-growing collections of draft picks in this deal. Ferguson and Poirier probably aren’t in New York’s plans, but the two players headed to Oklahoma City are a little more intriguing.

Bradley, who is eligible for restricted free agency, had 18 points and 11 rebounds in his final game as a Sixer on Tuesday, while Rivers has been a rotation player for playoff clubs in the past and is on a team-friendly contract, with non-guaranteed cap hits of $3.33MM in 2021/22 and $3.15MM in ’22/23.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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