Sixers Trade Kendall Marshall For A Center – Wait, What?

The Sixers have sent guard Kendall Marshall to the Utah Jazz for yet another big man, but everything isn’t how it might first appear.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Sixers have traded guard Kendall Marshall to the Utah Jazz for center Tibor Pleiss and two second-rounders.

Philadelphia is sending guard Kendall Marshall to Utah for Tibor Pleiss, two future second-round picks and cash, sources tell @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 26, 2016

At first, this deal has left many in Sixers Nation scratching their heads. The very last thing the Sixers need right now is another big man. However, this trade is not quite what it appears. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I would be tempted to believe that somehow former GM Sam Hinkie emerged from obscurity and secretly put this trade together himself.

What the 76ers actually did was swap a marginal player for a pair of future second-round picks and in the “process”, enabled another team to dump an unwanted player and his salary.

As it turns out, this trade probably will end up as addition by subtraction for both teams. Marshall has a $2 million contract that was about to become guaranteed as of tomorrow, and the Sixers probably would have released him today. More than likely, Utah will release him before the guaranteed money kicks in. And since the 76ers have no need for another center, there is also a good chance that Pleiss will be released as well.

So in the end, the 76ers take on a salary dump and gain two second-round picks. I doubt if either Kendall Marshall  or Tibor Pleiss is thrilled, but somewhere out there Sam Hinkie is rolling out another quote – this time from David Carradine of Kung Fu fame- “Well done. You have learned well, Grasshopper!”