Sixers enter ‘Wemby Draft’ without picks, mirroring position in historic 2003 draft 20 years ago

Plenty of buzz surrounds Thursday’s NBA draft, when generational talent Victor Wembanyama will officially become a San Antonio Spur. Conversely, there is little to no attention on the 76ers, who currently don’t have a pick because they traded their first-rounder as part of the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade and forfeited their second-rounder following the league’s tampering investigation.

The Sixers were coincidentally in a similar spot 20 years ago — when the 2003 draft produced one of the best classes in history in LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — thanks to a far-less-memorable trade that left them without a first-round pick.

» READ MORE: Looking for a Sixers draft-night trade? Why that might be more difficult to pull off this year.

In either case, the Sixers would not have had a legitimate shot at one of those premier prospects without giving up significant assets to move up to the top of the draft. In 2002-03, the Allen Iverson-led Sixers finished with a 48-34 regular-season record and were the Eastern Conference’s fourth seed before (unsurprisingly) losing to the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs’ second round.

That result would have given the Sixers the 20th overall selection in the ensuing draft. But back in August of 2001, general manager Billy King traded that pick and Roshown McLeod to the Boston Celtics for Jérôme Moïso. Moiso never played for the Sixers, who dealt him to the Charlotte Hornets before the start of the 2001-02 season as part of a complicated three-team deal that brought Derrick Coleman back to Philly and also landed Corie Blount and Vonteego Cummings.

Coleman averaged 15.1 points and 8.8 rebounds in 2001-02, before playing two more seasons with the Sixers and then finishing his NBA career with a brief stint with his hometown Detroit Pistons. Blount played one season with the Sixers, averaging 3.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 72 games with 21 starts. Cummings averaged 3.3 points in 58 games with the Sixers, in his last NBA season before going overseas.

That 20th draft pick in 2003, meanwhile, became Dahntay Jones, who (along with Troy Bell) went to the Memphis Grizzlies in a trade with the Boston Celtics for Kendrick Perkins and Marcus Banks. For perspective on who was available in that range that year, Jones was two picks behind David West and one pick ahead of Boris Diaw. Jones’ 13-year career ended in 2017, after he averaged 5.4 points in 624 career games with the Grizzlies, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, and Cleveland Cavaliers.

That 2003 draft — which occurred about one month after coach Larry Brown resigned — was not a total missed opportunity for the Sixers, however.

» READ MORE: Post-Process: How the Sixers have picked in the NBA draft since selecting Markelle Fultz in 2017

They bought the rights to Kyle Korver, who was selected in the second round by the New Jersey Nets. Korver became a terrific shooter and ironman for the Sixers, connecting on nearly 41% of his three-point tries in four-plus seasons and leading the NBA with a 91.4% free-throw percentage in 2006-07. Willie Green, who developed into a double-digit scorer and is now the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, was also a draft-day trade from the Seattle SuperSonics.

The Sixers had much more prominent draft positioning after going 33-49 in 2003-04, then selecting Andre Iguodala ninth overall. The next year, they took sixth-man extraordinaire Lou Williams in the second round.

But the Sixers initially entered that ballyhooed 2003 draft as relative outsiders. It remains to be seen if they partake at all in this year’s selections, or if they become a total bystander in what will forever go down as the Wemby Draft.