Countdown to the trade deadline - YOUR view on a Jahlil Okafor trade

It's December 14th, and today, the trade restrictions for many of the players signed in summer free agency begin to lift, marking the official start to the NBA trade season.

With that start come the flood of trade rumors - some new, some merely retreads - so it seemed appropriate to kick the tires on a rumor that seems to have been around longer than the player in question has been in the league in the first place, connecting Jahlil Okafor of the Philadelphia 76ers to the Boston Celtics.

There have not been any recent rumblings to suggest a move is immenent, but the overloaded 76ers frontcourt is going to get even more crowded than it already is, and with Nerlens Noel publicly making a stink about it before he and Ben Simmons return to a roster already cutting into Okafor's rookie-year minutes, it won't be getting better without a trade.

Okafor has seen his skillset relegated to a secondary role almost upon arriving in the league. Teams have been trending towards more skilled and smaller rosters, making him expendable for Philly's future plans. He's a former number three pick, so they expect something worthwhile back, making their most likely preferred choice to deal a bit harder to move. Cue Boston in seemingly every sportswriter's thinkpiece, as much for the assets Danny Ainge has accumulated as for the potential second unit spark he might (ideally) provide. There's potential if you can get past a mountain of "ifs" that make this deal unlikely, but not impossible, and it seems like you readers feel the same, more or less.

The ayes have it (by a nose):
Celticslife readers narrowly support putting together a package for Jahlil without even considering the details. Due to the incredibly unscientifically worded polling questions, I'll interpret this to mean you're really excited about the idea of Okafor in Boston, and not that you'd trade away our best assets to get him, especially in light of the second question's results.

The details of any deal were important to many considering pulling the trigger:
Nearly half of responding readers only would want to trade salary match, with a fair amount willing to pony up a non-lottery pick as a sweetener. This seems to reflect general sentiment around the league - and the fact that Okafor hasn't changed teams yet, too. It'll probably take at least a middling pick plus a player of Kelly Olynyk or Terry Rozier's status included in the deal to not get hung up on, and while I don't think it's out of the question that an acceptible deal for both teams might materialize close to the deadline, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

Some of you bid high:

Some of you bid low:

And some of you bid somewhere in the middle:

Some of you want nothing to do with him:

Some of you have other (Nerlens-themed?) ideas:

 Some of you had jokes:


Some of you were coming from an entirely different point of view:

 And some of you just want it to be March already:
For more articles about Jahlil Okafor on Celticslife, click here. For more by Justin, click here.






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