There are too many mouths to feed in the Philadelphia 76ers' frontcourt, so someone will have to get the boot out of the City of Brotherly Love.
Center Nerlens Noel is set to begin his third season in the league, Jahlil Okafor will hope to avoid a sophomore slump, Dario Saric will make his NBA debut after playing overseas, and Joel Embiid appears healthy enough for his first taste of action.
The two expendables in that quartet of talent appear to be Noel and Okafor, as the Sixers have plans to move at least one of the two, league sources told The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski.
New general manager and team president Bryan Colangelo has been on the record saying that he'd like to distribute the talent more evenly throughout the roster, and not have a logjam in the middle that could create problems down the road with playing time. Trading one of the team's big men could also assist in improving depth at other positions.
Related: 76ers would reportedly rather trade Okafor than Noel
Since Embiid essentially has no value on the open market with a storied injury history and having never played a game, it would be difficult for Colangelo to receive decent compensation for the former third overall pick. The same goes for Saric, who was impressive for the Croatian national team during the 2016 Rio Games, but is also lacking in NBA experience.
Prior to this year's draft, Philadelphia reportedly dangled both players in front of the Boston Celtics in exchange for the No. 3 selection, which was eventually used on California's Jaylen Brown. The Sixers drafted Australian forward Ben Simmons first overall, and took Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Furkan Korkmaz 24th and 26th, respectively.
Okafor led the team in scoring during the 2015-16 campaign with 17.5 points on 50.8 percent shooting, along with seven rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 30 minutes per game. He only made 53 appearances, though, missing all games from Feb. 29 on with a small tear of the meniscus in his right knee.
Noel, on the other hand, was more defensive-oriented in his approach to the game, leading the team in steals (1.8) and finishing second in blocks (1.5). He also contributed a near double-double of 11.1 points and 8.1 rebounds for the league-worst 10-72 Sixers
