In the case of the NBA trade deadline, Josh Harris and Daryl Morey have earned the benefit of the doubt

The Sixers’ trade deadline was great news for Commanders fans. Josh Harris landed himself enough money to pay whatever coach replaces Dan Quinn in a year or two. The dual-threat owner also got his basketball franchise a legit three-point gunner, and a chance to find a few utilizable husks on the buyout market. The cash, though: that’s the interesting thing.

The Sixers entered Thursday as a dead team walking, but they snagged themselves a fat little stack for their (considerable) troubles. They shed a net of about $10 million in salary and put themselves comfortably below the luxury tax threshold by trading away Danuel House, Jaden Springer and Patrick Beverley. In doing so, they positioned themselves to collect a share of the NBA’s annual disbursement from luxury-tax-paying teams. Last season, that amounted to a reported $14.5 million. So, a lot more than couch change.

I’m being cynical for dramatic effect, here. Harris has earned the benefit of the doubt. I’ll get killed for saying that, but the Sixers have not suffered from a lack of capital investment during his tenure as managing partner. Harris is the opposite of pennywise, pound foolish. He paid for Doc Rivers as his coach, then paid top dollar for Daryl Morey as his president, then paid top dollar for Nick Nurse even while he was still contractually obligated for Rivers’ top dollars. Nothing about Harris’ history suggests that he is punting on the season to pay for a few more carbon offsets.

In a salary-capped, luxury-taxed world, there are competitive advantages to saving money. Within the framework of the NBA’s byzantine collective bargaining agreement, the benefits extend well beyond the simple economic reality that a penny saved is a penny that can be spent on something else later. Teams who repeatedly exceed the luxury tax are penalized. If you are a team that can get below the tax threshold, and you are also a team that isn’t likely to realize a material advantage from remaining above the tax threshold, then it behooves future versions of your team to get below the threshold.

» READ MORE: Did Daryl Morey inadvertently deceive Patrick Beverley? Define ‘deceive’...

In which case, Morey and Harris’ most recent day at the office wasn’t as confusing as it seemed.

That’s not how it looked at first. At first, it was a deadline day best summarized by renowned NBA insider William Faulkner. Full of sound and fury, but signifying what, exactly? Nobody expected the Sixers to stand pat. But nobody thought they’d trade Pat either. Certainly not after they began the day by trading a trio of second-round picks in a three-team deal for Pacers sharpshooter Buddy Hield.

Pat himself didn’t think it. Shortly after the Sixers shipped him to the Bucks for a second-round pick, Beverley recounted a conversation he says he had with Daryl Morey a couple of weeks ago. The veteran point guard said he asked the Sixers president if he was going to be traded in advance of the NBA’s Feb. 8 deadline.

“Of course not,” Morey said.

Somewhere, James Harden nods slowly and smiles wistfully.

I kid.

While the acquisition of Hield suggested the Sixers would attempt to cobble together a team that would contend whenever Joel Embiid returned from his latest knee injury, we quickly learned otherwise. They used another second-round pick to dump House’s salary. And then they recouped one of the four second-round picks they’d spent by trading away Beverley, a player who would be an asset on a contending team. Then they traded away Springer for another second-round pick.

The net sum was a legitimately impactful offensive threat in Hield plus some future cash flow for a couple of second-round picks and a couple of veteran rotation pieces who could prove to be replacement-level within the context of the buyout market. That’s called hedging your bets. Take what the defense gives you.

Beverley wasn’t calling Morey a liar. He tweeted as much, chalking up the deal to the “business” of professional basketball. The NBA business cycle is an arrhythmia. Things change fast and irregularly. The alleged conversation between Beverley and Morey was the most instructive development of deadline day. Beverley said it occurred before the Sixers’ game in Denver. Assuming it took place more than 10 minutes before tip-off, then Morey was operating under the assumption that Embiid would be starting at center for the Sixers.

Now, we know otherwise. The worst thing the Sixers could have done is pretend like they could wheel and deal their way into an odds-on shot at a title. The Celtics are as close to a perfectly constructed team as we’ve seen in the recent history of the Eastern Conference. The Bucks have a player who is every bit as impactful as Embiid, plus a solidified supporting cast and a dynamic second option in Damian Lillard. The Knicks are tough, and they’ve only gotten better. I haven’t even mentioned the Cavs, who are somehow the current No. 2 seed.

» READ MORE: Sixers retool roster during active trade deadline — and may not be done

This ain’t the year to press your luck.

The second worst thing the Sixers could have done is punt on the season. There is a reasonable chance that Embiid is back on the court by the playoffs. If he is, then Hield is a big upgrade to the ideal formula around the big guy. That formula: surround him with as much space as possible. Hield is one of the best in the NBA at providing that spacing. He’s a career 40 percent shooter from three-point range. Just as important, he’s as high of a volume shooter from deep as anybody in the NBA. For the cost of three second-round picks, the Sixers are acquiring a player who profiles and slots similarly to J.J. Redick during his Sixers years.

Just listen to what former Sixers point guard T.J. McConnell had to say about his current Pacers teammate earlier this week.

“To the normal person, I don’t think they realize how important Buddy Hield is to what we do,” McConnell said. “Even if he’s not shooting the ball. The attention he brings – and they can get messed up on defense – he’s the best in the league at it. We love having him out there.”

How that plays without Embiid is a legitimate question. The Sixers have a big enough cushion that they can at least count on a spot in the play-in tournament. Hield plus a couple of buyout players — Kyle Lowry? Spencer Dinwiddie? — will give them a reasonable shot at avoiding a complete implosion. From there, hey, let’s try to be the 2022-23 Heat. If we fail, we still have the chance to re-sign Hield after spending $60 million, in free agency or on the trade market.

Uncertainty is never satisfying. The best you can do is work within its constraints.