NBA trade deadline passes with Sixers moving Reggie Jackson, modifying Caleb Martin deal

We mentioned the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers as teams for Sixers followers to watch at the deadline because of their positions in the standings.

How about those two teams reportedly pulling off a trade involving Philly native De’Andre Hunter and former Sixers fan favorite Georges Niang?

Per ESPN, Hunter will join a Cavaliers team that holds the top spot in the Eastern Conference but could use a big wing to defend Boston Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in a hypothetical playoff matchup.

The 76ers are sending their 2030 second-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks, modifying a Tuesday trade centered on Caleb Martin and Quentin Grimes, according to sources.

The teams originally agreed that the Sixers would send Martin to Dallas in exchange for Grimes and a 2025 second-round pick. That pick belonged to the Sixers and had been acquired by the Mavs via the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But on Thursday, the Sixers agreed to add an additional second-round pick after consultation with Dallas and the league about Martin’s hip injury, according to sources. Martin, who currently has a sprained right hip, is sidelined with the injury but is nearing a return. A source added that there are no long-term concern with Martin’s injury.

Jared Butler is a player the 76ers have liked since the 2021 NBA draft, where he was selected 40th overall by the New Orleans Pelicans and traded to the Utah Jazz a week later.

The point guard averaged 6.9 points and 2.6 assists in 11.3 minutes in 32 games off the bench this season for the Washington Wizards.

The Sixers have been impressed with his high basketball IQ. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder is a good passer and a solid shooter. The belief is that Butler can make the game easier for teammates.

The Sixers are trading Reggie Jackson to the Washington Wizards for Jared Butler. 

Here are the particulars of the deal:

The Sixers will send Jackson and a 2026 first-round pick — the least favorable of the first-round picks held by LA Clippers, Oklahoma City, and Houston (if Houston is Nos. 5-30).

The recently formed “Unc Backcourt” of Reggie Jackson and Kyle Lowry is no more.

The Sixers are trading Jackson and a 2026 first-round draft pick to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Jared Butler and four second-round draft picks, according to multiple reports.

Jackson, a late free-agency addition last summer, never gained traction as a consistent rotation player in Philly. But he had found some recent synergy in the reserve backcourt alongside fellow 30-something Lowry, sometimes even sharing the floor with starting ballhandler Tyrese Maxey in a three-guard lineup. Jackson scored 10 points and made all four of his shot attempts in Wednesday’s loss to the Heat.

It was a hyperextended left knee, leading to a bone bruise on separate occasions.

It was groin soreness.

It was right ankle soreness.

As Andre Drummond left the Sixers’ locker room late Wednesday, he dapped up the attendants responsible for gathering laundry and other duties. Ricky Council IV, meanwhile, shook hands with teammates still at their stalls on his way out.

Those gestures are common as players depart following a game. But they held a little more weight this time, given the looming trade deadline.

Because the Sixers are coming off back-to-back home games against the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, they will not practice Thursday and will instead meet at the plane before departing for Detroit for Friday’s game against the Pistons. Coach Nick Nurse acknowledged that the fact the team will not formally gather at the facility ahead of the deadline will make the day “a little bit strange.”

Even after a slew of other significant moves, the NBA ecosystem is still reeling from the shocking Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade. And it reminded Sixers star Tyrese Maxey that, “if Luka gets traded at 25, anybody can get traded, right?”

“As soon as I stepped in the league, after like Game 10, I was in trade talks,” Maxey said following the Sixers’ loss to the Heat Wednesday night.

That was primarily earlier in Maxey’s career, when he was viewed as a promising young talent and not a franchise cornerstone capable of ripping off seven consecutive 30-point games. Still, Maxey stressed that “you’ve just got to go out there and do your job” and cannot worry about the potential to be dealt.

The Sixers have been part of the flurry of moves ahead of Thursday’s deadline. Here is the rundown:

They traded forward Caleb Martin to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Quentin Grimes on Tuesday afternoon.

Martin, a versatile forward with proven playoff success, had been viewed as a slam-dunk free-agency signing because of his complementary skill set and team-friendly contract. But Martin struggled with injuries throughout the season, preventing him from gaining rhythm with his new team. The Sixers chose to swap him for the 24-year-old Grimes, who is expected to provide outside shooting and strong defense and will be a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

If you are a Sixers follower, here are six teams to watch leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline.

The Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks are the teams the Sixers are chasing for a spot in the play-in tournament. Following Wednesday’s loss to the Miami Heat, the Sixers are one game back of the 10th-place Bulls and 2 1/2 games behind the ninth-place Hawks.

Chicago already traded star Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, and Nikoala Vucevic and Coby White are candidates to be moved Thursday. If the Bulls finally fully lean into a complete rebuild, that clears a path for the Sixers to sneak into the play-in, essentially by default. The Bulls did, however, also agree to a contract extension with Lonzo Ball Wednesday night.

Paul George spent the last portion of Wednesday’s postgame news conference answering questions about watching the NBA’s already-frenzied trade deadline unfold, including the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis blockbuster that George described as “insanity.

And before the 76ers’ star wing could even step down from the podium, a reporter notified him that Brandon Ingram had just been dealt from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Toronto Raptors

“For who?!” George asked the room.

Is it time for the 76ers to give up on the Paul George experiment?

There was plenty of excitement surrounding the franchise that harbored NBA championship aspirations after signing the free agent George to a four-year, $211.5 million deal in July. There was a belief that George, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey could form the NBA’s best big three.

But so far, the trio has been the league’s big incomplete, playing a total of only 10 games together. And sources tell The Inquirer that the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors have expressed interest in acquiring George ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.

That’s it. They may have finally done it. All of us are witnesses. After a half-season full of waypoints at ever-increasing altitudes, the Sixers will struggle to reach much higher. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated until the clown car has come to a full and complete stop. We have arrived at Peak 2025 Sixers.

Daryl Morey’s decision to trade 24-year-old wing KJ Martin is a humiliating move for the team president himself and for the fans to whom he sold this bill of goods of a season. There isn’t a better encapsulation of Morey’s no good, very bad year than the brief and wondrous life of Martin as an alleged Sixers trade asset.

When the team president signed Martin to a two-year, $16 million contract over the summer, the move was heralded as Morey at his most galaxy-brained. Nobody thought Martin was worth $8 million per year — half of it guaranteed — but that was the genius of it. Because the Sixers had his Bird rights, and were thus allowed by NBA rules to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him, they essentially were writing themselves a free money voucher they could cash in later in a trade for a player of equal or greater salary.