Andre Drummond just said what every Sixers fan has been screaming since February.
Appearing on N3ON’s YouTube channel this week, the Philadelphia center spoke candidly about Jared McCain being shipped to Oklahoma City at the trade deadline. The takeaway: Drummond gets why the Thunder are a good landing spot, but he wishes the front office had kept the kid.
“I am very happy for Jared McCain,” Drummond said. “I wish we kept him, obviously, but I think he went to a good situation, a team that is going to help him develop and help him grow. I love the kid to death.”
That is Drummond being kind to the franchise that signs his paychecks while telling the truth at the same time.
McCain was the bright spot in a Sixers season that fell apart. The former Duke star was averaging 15.3 points before his season ended early due to a knee meniscus injury in his rookie year, and he had quickly become the most exciting young guard on the roster. His shot creation, his confidence, his social-media-ready personality. Philadelphia had a foundation piece on a cheap rookie contract.
They traded him anyway.
The Sixers’ calculus was about the now. Joel Embiid is on the back nine of his career. Paul George signed in 2024 to win immediately. Tyrese Maxey is the present and the future. So when the trade deadline came and the front office had a chance to add veterans, McCain went out the door.
The Thunder were happy to take him. Oklahoma City is the most stacked young roster in the league and McCain slots in as a shot-creator off the bench behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Sam Presti loves taking talented players from teams that have rotational priorities and giving them runway. Look at Aaron Wiggins. Look at Cason Wallace. McCain fits the pattern.
Drummond’s comments matter because they are coming from inside the building. He has spent the entire season watching Embiid, George, and Maxey try to make it work, and he is admitting the trade hurt the long-term ceiling of the team. Locker rooms talk. This is what they are saying.
McCain returned to Philadelphia in March wearing Thunder blue and the building loved him. That was always going to happen. Sixers fans saw the future and watched it leave.
The numbers since the trade tell a story. McCain has settled in nicely with the Thunder, getting steady run as a secondary creator on a roster that already has Shai, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams. The fit is real. The shot is real. The Thunder did not need him. They took him because Sam Presti collects valuable assets the way other GMs collect basketball players.
For the Sixers, the verdict will not arrive immediately. If Embiid is healthy and the roster wins a title in the next two years, the trade was worth it. If the band fights through injuries and never reaches a Finals, McCain becomes one of the most painful what-ifs in recent franchise memory.
Drummond knows that. So does the front office. So does every Sixers fan who saw McCain go off as a rookie and assumed the team had finally found its next core piece.
The thing about NBA trades is that you usually do not get the final report card for years. The Thunder will give McCain space to grow. The Sixers will live with whatever Embiid can give them between rehab cycles. Time will sort it out.
For now, Drummond’s quote stands. A veteran is publicly saying the team got it wrong, in the kindest possible language. Sixers fans were already there.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
