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MANILA, Philippines – After a long holding out process, the Philadelphia 76ers have shipped former 2015 3rd overall pick Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas and a second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for veteran power forward Trevor Booker.
In 23 games so far this season, the former Duke University standout has since fallen completely out of Coach Brett Brown’s rotation. After the breakout rookie campaign of former 2014 3rd overall pick Joel Embiid, Philadelphia management decided to work out a trade for Okafor, which didn’t happen as soon as they would’ve hoped. As a result, Okafor rode the bench without seeing a single minute of action in 21 out of 23 games.
On November 1, Okafor spoke out to the media regarding his situation with the Sixers.
“This is my life. This is my career, and I’m not getting an opportunity here, which is fine,” he said. “The team looks great, and I’m not a part of that. I want the team to do great things, but at the same time I want to play.”
Despite a strong rookie campaign in 2015 where Okafor averaged 17.5 points, 7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, Okafor suffered greatly from the emergence of Embiid, the 2016 Rookie of the Year runner-up. After two years of rehabbing a number of serious knee injuries and blossoming into an internet darling, Embiid registered hefty averages of 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in just 25.5 minutes per game last year. However, the Sixers only played him in 31 out of 82 games, making him lose the Rookie of the Year contest to Milwaukee Bucks point guard Malcolm Brogdon.
Although Okafor started at center whenever “The Process” was out, he wasn’t able to replicate his stellar rookie campaign where he was Philadelphia’s main big man. Last season, his averages plummeted across the board at just 11.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1 block per game after jockeying for position against Embiid and battling knee injuries of his own.
According to Rotoworld.com, Okafor is now projected to land the starting center job despite Brooklyn having their own surplus of big men like Timofey Mozgov, Tyler Zeller, Jarrett Allen and Quincy Acy. He joins draft classmate D’Angelo Russell who was picked one spot before him in 2015. At just 21 years old, both are expected to lead the Nets’ offense and grow to live up to their respective potentials. – Rappler.com
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