Andre Drummond is not going to lie about it. He wishes the Sixers had kept Jared McCain.
Drummond went on N3ON’s YouTube channel and gave one of the more honest reactions a current player has given about a former teammate getting traded. “I am very happy for Jared McCain. 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 the kind of quote that sounds simple until you put it in context. McCain just helped the Thunder make a Western Conference Finals run as a rookie-second-year guy. He was a real postseason performer. The Sixers fanbase has spent the last month gradually realizing they may have shipped out a future All-Star for draft capital.
The trade itself was Daryl Morey doing Daryl Morey things. McCain went to Oklahoma City for four draft picks. On paper, you understand it. The Sixers needed flexibility, they needed assets, and they had no good answer at the guard spot behind Maxey. Cashing in McCain for picks made the long-term math cleaner.
The problem is what McCain did in those Thunder playoff games. He hit big shots. He played heady minutes. He looked like a guy you build around, not a guy you flip.
Drummond saying he loved the kid is the part that should sting. Locker rooms know which young guys are going to be lifers and which ones are role players. Drummond is on his eleventh team or whatever it is now. He has seen everybody. When he singles out McCain and says he wishes he was still around, that tells you what kind of pro McCain was.
OKC saw the same thing Drummond saw. They paid for it with picks they could afford to spare because they have been collecting them for half a decade. Sam Presti turns draft equity into actual basketball players better than anyone in the league. Adding McCain was the latest example.
The 76ers needed to add a McCain, not subtract one. Their depth chart is paper-thin behind their stars. Joel Embiid has missed games. Paul George has missed games. Maxey is the only guard who plays serious minutes. Letting go of a young, cheap, productive scorer for picks looks worse every game.
For Drummond, this is also a window into the current Sixers vibe. Drummond is at the stage of his career where he calls things how he sees them. He is not auditioning for a coach. He is a vet on a vet deal. When he says he wishes they kept McCain, that is not just nostalgia. That is a player on the roster telling you the team got worse with the trade.
McCain is fine. The Thunder are loaded and he is going to be in their rotation for years. The Sixers got picks they will turn into players who are not as good as Jared McCain.
Drummond said the quiet part. That trade was a loss for Philly.
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.
