Sometimes opportunity is obvious, like eating a lot of food samples in the grocery store. In other scenarios, opportunity can be nuanced, like realizing you have an extra day’s worth of socks left before you need to do laundry.
The Boston Celtics quixotically traded 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown to their arch-rival Philadelphia 76ers for wing Paul George (plus draft capital), who is generally perceived as a negative asset, per ESPN's Shams Charania.
BLOCKBUSTER: The Boston Celtics have agreed to trade Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/xNcNlIV2mh
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2026
If the Sixers are willing to attach draft capital to George during the 2026 NBA offseason, then the Bulls should grab the subtle opportunity to position themselves to be the 76ers preferred trade partner in an effort to help them offload Joel Embiid during the 2027 NBA offseason.
Embiid will enter his age-33 NBA season when the 2027-28 NBA season starts, and at that point, his contract will have two fully guranteed season remaining, which will pay Embiid $62.6 million for the 2027-28 NBA season and $67.3 million in the player option final year of his contract for the 2028-29 NBA season, according to Spotrac.
Therefore, as a prerequisite for the Bulls, Embiid must be a 2027 NBA offseason acquisition as opposed to a 2027 NBA Trade Deadline acquisition to not have Embiid’s salary impact more than two seasons of the Bulls’ cap sheet.
Hypothesizing a Bulls trade for Joel Embiid
The good news is the Bulls are already armed with tradeable contracts that should also be serviceable rotation players on a 76ers core, presumably focused on winning an NBA title, in guard Tyrese Maxey, guard V.J. Edgecombe, and wing Jaylen Brown.
A combination of Bulls center Nic Claxton and guard Norman Powell’s expiring 2027-28 NBA season salary amounts to $44.1 million, according to Spotrac. Add guard Josh Giddey’s $25 million salary for the 2027-28 NBA season, and the Bulls have the salary in Embiid’s ballpark to acquire the long-time 76ers center.
The draft capital the Bulls should seek as compensation for taking on Embiid’s salary should be straightforward: the 76ers' unprotected 2032 first-round draft pick and their 2034 first-round draft pick that becomes accessible in 2027. Throw in some second-round picks if you like, but apparently, second picks don’t matter to the Bulls’ front office again.
Bigger picture - cash in those tradeable contracts!
The Bulls' front office, led by Bryson Graham, has already taken a solid gut punch from fans and some media by punting their 2026 NBA Draft second-round picks effectively for cash. Extending Powell or Claxton, or even worse, letting them walk for nothing, would be a clean uppercut to the chin of Graham's front office.
Signing Claxton and Powell to team-friendly, tradeable contracts should only lead to one outcome: flipping these contracts into a trade that increases the Bulls' draft capital. Joel Embiid would be the white whale of good bad money the Bulls should be acquiring while they develop their roster toward relevance.
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