Throughout his career, Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey has been known to hunt stars. According to recent developments, he continued his pursuit of high-level talent at this year's trade deadline.
On Wednesday morning, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shellburne reported on big-name calls that went down before the deadline. It was centered around the Golden State Warriors asking about LeBron James. However, some interesting Sixers notes also came up in the story.
Woj and Shelburne detailed that Morey reached out to Rob Pelinka about a possible LeBron trade. However, Pelinka immediately began asking about Joel Embiid and the conversation ended. Other names that Morey reportedly made calls for included Phoenix Suns stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
"After seeing James' cryptic social media post of an hourglass a week before the trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey called Pelinka to probe on a James trade and was immediately told that James wasn't available. In fact, Pelinka responded by asking Morey if Joel Embiid was available, sources said," Woj wrote. "Morey, who also called the Phoenix Suns and asked about a trade for Durant prior to the deadline, sources said. When told no, Morey then asked about the availability of Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, too. Unsurprisingly, those were rebuffed as well, sources said."
In the end, the Sixers did not end up making any big splashes at the deadline. Their biggest move was the acquisition of Buddy Hield, who has impressed in his first few games with the team.
Armed with multiple expiring contracts and draft capital, Morey was likely just doing due diligence with these calls.
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