Daryl Morey believes the Sixers are championship contenders. But he will ‘turn over every rock’ as trade deadline nears.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Daryl Morey has earned his reputation as an NBA executive unafraid to make splashy moves.

That was on display last February, when he pulled off the blockbuster trade to send the disgruntled Ben Simmons (along with Seth Curry and Andre Drummond) to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for future Hall of Famer James Harden. Another prime opportunity has arrived for the 76ers’ president of basketball operations with the trade deadline approaching Thursday and Morey’s team playing its best basketball of the season. The Sixers are 34-17 ahead of Sunday’s matchup at the New York Knicks, have gone 22-5 since Dec. 9, and are two games out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

In a conversation with The Inquirer hours before the Sixers’ win against the Spurs on Friday night, Morey exuded confidence that his team is already capable of winning the NBA title. Yet he and the rest of the front office continue to explore avenues to improve the roster for the regular season’s stretch run and playoffs. The Sixers have intriguing complementary players, such as defensive stalwart Matisse Thybulle; a big-swing contract in Tobias Harris; and a handful of players on expiring deals, but lack draft capital after parting with two first-round picks in the Simmons-Harden trade.

Morey declined to publicly divulge much detail about what the Sixers are pursuing at the deadline. But he did provide some insight about how he approaches such a crucial time of the calendar, and his experience watching the Sixers’ season unfold.

This conversation has been edited slightly for length and clarity.

How different does this trade-deadline period feel compared to last year, when you were working on the blockbuster deal?

Daryl Morey: This season’s been really great to watch for me because of Doc [Rivers], Joel [Embiid], James [Harden], Tobias [Harris], [Tyrese] Maxey, just having them develop chemistry. Obviously, we had a few tough times out of the gate, and the effort and positive approach that everyone took to improving over time — especially through quite a few significant injuries — has been really sort of a joy to watch. I always feel like, and [general manager Elton Brand] and the whole front office feels this way, that we’re stewards of the team and the fans. We really go into this week feeling a responsibility to do everything we can — just like the players are and the coaches are — to find ways to help get what we all want, which is a championship.

Now, the unfortunate thing being in the front office around this time is it always takes two to tango. We can go in with the goals of trying to give Doc more tools to win the championship, but it doesn’t always work out. It will either happen or it won’t. But it won’t be for lack of effort. We’re going to turn over every rock and try to help the team.

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Can you break down what these last few days before the deadline are like for you?

DM: This first step is always getting a really good sense of what all the teams in the league are trying to do. Really, the only way anything happens around this time is if you fully understand what others are trying to accomplish, because they’re not sitting around trying to figure out how to help you. Then, how can you find a win-win situation? Maybe they’re more of a rebuilding team, where you can meet their goals and also help the 76ers. That’s sort of Step 1 is getting that feedback, and that’s a lot of calls in the weeks leading up to this week.

There’s a lot of idea-generation. We have quite a good staff in Elton and [executive vice president of basketball operations] Peter Dinwiddie and [assistant general manager] Ned Cohen. We have a whole group of six or seven core folks who are looking for things that can fit the goals of the other teams and then help the 76ers. We divide things by division, where people really try to get into the details of certain teams and what they’re trying to accomplish and background — as much as we can get — on what’s going on behind the scenes of these teams.

And then, when you have rough ideas, you’re generally wanting to get them, at a high level, to teams in the weeks leading up to the deadline. Most trades that happen have been talked about for quite a bit longer than just the week leading in. Every once in a while, there’s things that come out of left field. But most of the time, it’s something that’s been talked about for a while, but, for different reasons, they haven’t happened yet. There’s a lot of, unfortunately, chasing down dead ends. We’ve run out a lot of ground balls. And that’s fine. That’s our job, to work on things that don’t happen. I would say, on average, you’re talking somewhere between 200 and 300 concepts are talked about with teams for every one thing that happens. Look, anyone who’s in the deal business, even outside of sports, knows that you spend a lot of time on things that don’t happen — which is part of what you sign up for.

How has the way this particular season unfolded, especially with the early injuries, impacted your evaluation of the roster and how you will approach the deadline?

DM: In some ways, it helps. And in some ways, it hurts. It helps in that, I think, just it shows we think we have players down to 12 and 13 on the roster that can play. Doc has done a nice job preparing the guys deeper in our rotation. Credit to Doc and the players that, when they’ve been called to, they’ve answered the calls generally. I think we’ve had some really, really good wins — in Orlando, against Brooklyn — that were just very shorthanded games where some of the guys who don’t play as much really showed what they can do. On one level, I think that’s good for the team. At another level, it makes it hard.

When we’re looking to improve the team, it’s frankly not easy to find upgrades who are better than our 11th guy. We think the players are pretty good. Obviously, if no move happens, we’re going to feel like we have a very good chance to win the title. That said, we definitely feel the responsibility to Joel and James, Tobias, P.J. [Tucker], all our key veterans who have been in the league and are still looking for that first title — except P.J. — that we want to keep improving and hopefully give Doc some more weapons when he’s fighting in a Game 7 in a few months.

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What can you share about the weaknesses you would be interested in shoring up or the traits you want to pursue at the deadline?

DM: It’s hard. Probably, you could guess. But that’s one thing where I don’t think we have any obvious, “Hey, we need ‘X.” And I don’t like to go into the deadline feeling like you’re just looking for “X,” because then you miss out on opportunities. It’s harder to answer that one.

What’s it like working with Doc Rivers during this stretch of the season, and how has that evolved during your time with the Sixers?

DM: It’s a lot of mutual respect and a lot of communication. The good thing is Elton is here as well, and [Rivers] knew Elton. Me coming in here, the chemistry’s been good. He obviously does such an amazing job as a coach, and he leaves the front-office stuff to us. We check in. In fact, I did both [Friday] and [Thursday]. I’m like, “Hey, what about something like this?” or “Seems like we may have a chance at that.” Because his feedback is so valuable. He’s had every job in the league, too, so he thinks of angles that we miss. It’s just a constant communication, getting his thoughts on the general direction of things. He’s been an amazing partner in everything we do.

How do you navigate this time with players who may be feeling the uncertainty surrounding their future or the team?

DM: I hate it because you become friendly with the players. I don’t love this time. The main thing I try to do is just be very up-front and frank about things. I’ll be happy when we’re through this week, too, because I think everyone exhales and puts their entire focus on winning a championship. It’s sometimes impossible with players to get the trade deadline out of their minds. There’s going to be a thousand rumors. I had to laugh [Thursday], because I think there was a rumor or two about us and it was literally with a team we had never spoken to in the last month. It can get pretty frustrating from a front-office perspective, but it is what it is.

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As somebody who has been in a roster-building position for a long time, how has the trade deadline changed leaguewide with evolutions such as the addition of the play-in tournament?

DM: That’s been a frustration. If you, again, look at the quality of our players — down to outside the rotation at 10, 11, 12, 13 guys — and then the limited number of teams that are maybe saying, “Hey, this year isn’t our year. Let’s try to move on from some guys for some draft picks” or whatever it might be, it’s a very small list. And it does feel smaller than usual.

Now that your team has gotten a few weeks with a healthy roster, is this what you envisioned when you put it together over the summer?

DM: Yeah, it really is. Obviously, it starts with Joel and James and the chemistry they’ve built, which seems very strong. Obviously, we have some tough times coming up in March and then the playoffs that we’ll need to navigate. And then Tobias, as well. Maxey, as well. Yeah, the job Doc and his coaches have done, and that our top players have done, to continue to improve and get used to playing with each other on the floor offensively and defensively, I’ve been very impressed. You can tell Doc’s won a championship, because he’s just continually fine-tuned and improved what we’ve done throughout the season.