The 76ers acquired a much-needed shooting forward and added a conditional draft pick. In exchange, they parted ways with one of their most athletic, high-energy guys.
The Sixers traded Jerami Grant to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday for Turkish power forward Ersan Ilyasova and the pick. The conditional pick is a top-20-protected first-rounder in 2020. If it’s not awarded, it would convert to two second-round picks in the 2022 and 2023 drafts.
“This helps us both short term and long term,” said Bryan Colangelo, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations. “It gives us a chance to improve our roster balance a little bit with a couple of different things that we’ve been working with. Floor spacing was important. Perimeter shooting was something we wanted to improve.”
The Sixers headed into Tuesday night’s game ranked last in the NBA in shooting at 39 percent. They were 22nd in the league in three-point shooting at 28.6 percent.
Thumbs up or down on the Jerami Grant trade?
The 6-foot-10 Ilyasova is good at coming off screens and taking opponents off the dribble, having shot 37.5 percent from the floor this season and 44.3 percent for his career. He’s shooting 36.7 percent on three-pointers in his career with four NBA teams.
The ninth-year veteran, however, has averaged only 5.0 points in 20.7 minutes in three games with the Thunder. The 29-year-old was traded to Oklahoma City from the Orlando Magic along with Victor Olidapo for Serge Ibaka.
He could join the team and be available for a game as early as Wednesday in Charlotte against the Hornets. The Sixers say Ilyasova will open things up for Joel Embiid at center.
“We can see him working in a pick-and-pop situation with [point guards] Sergio [Rodriguez] or T.J [McConnell] at the top,” Colangelo said. “Again, there are a lot of things that he brings to the table.”
Ilyasova is scheduled to make $8.4 million this season, the last one of his contract. The Sixers have not been signing players to long-term contracts as a way to free up money to make a big splash in the future.
The Thunder have been interested in Grant for a while.
The 6-8 forward was the 39th overall pick in the 2014 draft. He is an athletic yet undersize power forward whom the Sixers were grooming to play small forward. Grant averaged 8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks this season. He averaged 8.2 points during his three-year career.
“It’s weird,” said McConnell, who received a call from Grant informing him of the trade. “I know when I heard it, I was really sad, and I know a lot of people around here are sad because Jerami is like the favorite guy in the locker room. Everyone loves him.”
Follow and contact 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter and on Instagram at PompeyOnSixers.
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