Sixers and Flyers blew it when they traded champions Jrue Holiday and Sergei Bobrovsky

Monday night, Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky joined Celtics guard Jrue Holiday as former Philadelphia standouts who got kicked aside by their teams about a decade ago and who, this month, each won a championship. In fact, it was Holiday’s second title since he got the boot.

That gives Bob and Jrue three more championships in the last 12 seasons, combined, than the Sixers and Flyers have won in the last 12 seasons, combined.

I admit it: I’ve had this column teed up for two years. Both players were in position to win titles last June, too. No worries; this is a dish best served cold.

I hated both trades when they happened. I loved it when both players played well in other homes.

Both players have been brilliant since they were shipped out.

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Bobrovsky has won two Vezina Trophies as the NHL’s best goalkeeper and has made two All-Star teams. His first Vezina/All-Star double coming in the first season after the Flyers sent him to Columbus in 2012-13; his second, four seasons later. The Flyers remain in a 37-year Vezina drought.

Holiday has made two All-Star teams — the first one in the year he was traded — and six All-Defensive teams (three of them first-team). He’s won the two titles, and, this summer, likely will win a second Olympic gold medal. The Sixers remain in an 88-year Olympic gold-medal drought.

Ah, what might have been. Right?

Well, sorta.

It has, after all, been 11 years since the Sixers traded Holiday to the Pelicans for No. 6 pick Nerlens Noel and a 2014 first-round pick on draft night 2013, the first misstep in a running deconstruction catastrophe known as “The Process.”

It has, after all, been 12 seasons since the Flyers sent their superb backup goalie to Ohio and kept humongous-big tiger hunter (and bear coward) Ilya Bryzgalov, whose odd observations left a more lasting legacy than did his disastrous two seasons in (and out of) the Flyers’ net.

It’s not as if they planted where they landed. Bob spent the first seven seasons in Columbus and the last five in Florida. Holiday spent the first seven seasons in New Orleans, then three in Milwaukee, and this last one in Boston. Given the transitory nature of professional sports, there’s no guarantee either would still be in Philadelphia. Even Tom Brady left home.

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But then, there’s no guarantee either wouldn’t still be here, either. After all, neither has ever been replaced.

The Flyers have used 11 different starters or primary backups in the past 12 seasons. The latest franchise goalie, Carter Hart, is awaiting trial in Canada on a sexual assault charge.

The Sixers haven’t had anything resembling a real point guard since Holiday left. Michael Carter-Williams stunk; Ben Simmons wouldn’t shoot; Markelle Fultz got hurt, or something; James Harden was cooked; and Tyrese Maxey, bless his incendiary heart, remains a one-trick pony.

The Flyers try to recast history and tell you that they had to trade Bobrovsky. Not true.

Late Flyers owner Ed Snider panicked after coach Peter Laviolette mishandled Bobrovsky in the 2011 postseason after Bob enjoyed a stellar rookie season. Snider pushed to sign Bryz to huge money, and Bob was a mediocre backup in 2011-12. Bob had one year remaining on his contract and swore he wouldn’t re-sign as a backup, so the Flyers felt they had to trade him rather than be left with nothing. So, they did.

By the end of the 2012-13 season, the Flyers dumped Bryz with a $23 million buyout that they’ll still be paying through the 2026-27 season, which will be the next time Bobrovsky’s a free agent. He might have another Stanley Cup or two by then.

Here’s the thing: The Flyers, in full win-now mode, surrendered an excellent backup goaltender. What if Bryz got hurt (which happened)? What if Bryz got bad (which happened)? Had the Flyers held on to Bobrovsky, he could have been their starter a year later ... and beyond.

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As it turned out, the Flyers turned to Steve Mason, who, said Snider in 2014, was ”not chopped liver.” Yes, frankly, he was.

Bobrovsky earned $41 million with the Blue Jackets and will make $70 million with the Panthers. Has he been worth every penny every minute? No. Until this spring, he generally struggled in his eight playoff runs since leaving Philly. However, he had the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP secured ... until he gave up 12 goals on 58 shots in Games 4-6. But he shined in Game 7, and the Panthers won — which is something the Flyers haven’t done in 49 years, which was the last time they had a two-time Vezina winner, Bernie Parent.

The same Bernie Parent who, blown away with the young goalie’s mobility, was Bobrovsky’s biggest advocate.

In some ways, trading Holiday made far more sense than trading Bobrovsky, especially in the moment.

Noel was projected to be a high-end rim-protector with athleticism to burn; he was, in fact, an oft-injured head case who burned out of the league at the age of 28.

Further, the Sixers hired Sam Hinkie as general manager with orders to strip the team of all talent, stockpile draft picks, horde cap space, and transform all assets into either top-five picks or, eventually, high-end veterans who could complement the emerging stars. The closest that formula came to working was 2018-19, when the Sixers surrounded Joel Embiid with versatile tough guy Jimmy Butler and sniper JJ Redick. The problem: Their point guard was horrible. Again.

This is the karmic penalty of trading Holiday. He didn’t need to leave the Sixers for The Process to work. He was a 22-year-old true point guard, already an elite defender, with basketball IQ and character traits off the charts. He wasn’t skilled enough offensively to move the needle for a team bent on tanking, so the Sixers would have still been drafting early. He was a blue-collar, down-and-dirty, ever-improving gym rat.

Does this mean Holiday would still be a Sixer? I think, yes.

Does this mean the Sixers would be better for having him? Absolutely. They likely never would have drafted their biggest mistakes, Simmons and Fultz, even if they’d been in position to do so.

Of course, in 2013 the Sixers could have just held on to Holiday, not traded for Noel, and, instead of drafting MCW, they could have drafted future two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Funny how things work out.

Holiday’s seven solid seasons in Louisiana led to a complicated 2020 trade to Milwaukee, where he immediately won the NBA title.

His most valuable teammate: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

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Three years later the Bucks lost their mind and, in a successful effort to acquire Damian Lillard, they traded Holiday to ... the Celtics. Six years prior, the Celtics duped the Sixers into surrendering a first-round pick to draft Fultz over Jayson Tatum. Six years later, Holiday won his second title.

His most valuable teammate: Jayson Tatum.

So, the Sixers not only missed out on titles at the hands of two players they could have drafted, each time they also got beat by the player whose exit from Philly started it all.