This was during Maxey’s rookie season when Doc didn’t trust him to play much.. about 15 mins per game and only averaging about 8 pts off the bench while being inefficient. Thybulle’s value among the league/fans seemed to be higher, and Lowry’s value among the Raptors & fans was extremely high. Lowry was seen as that missing piece to lead to a possible championship.
In the comments Raptors fans are talking about how Maxey for Lowry was an extreme underpay… when you’re looking at that today it’s pretty funny. Today, you would take Maxey for Lowry in a heartbeat, and in comparison Thybulle’s value has tanked, while Maxey’s value sky rocketed next season.
It’s interesting because both 76ers & Raptors fans were more focused on the Thybulle inclusion, rather than Maxey.
For me, not taking the Maxey deal was one of the biggest mistakes the FO made.. especially when you consider we waited longer and got Precious in return. However, Masai has always been one to prioritize length and defense over an undersized scorer (who was inconsistent at the time) like Maxey. There was also a lot of pressure when trading your franchise’s greatest ever player… so I can see why he was hesitant to take the deal.
Despite what others say, Maxey was definitely on the table back then. His value was low and based on all the reports it was the Raptors choice of:
– Maxey OR Thybulle …. + Pick
– Maxey AND Thybulle …. but no pick
Several reported this from: Amick, Windhorst, Scotto, and articles written by the Athletic, SI, etc. The only unknown being whether the sticking point was the draft pick, or the inclusion of BOTH young players, instead of the choice of one. However, Maxey was 1000% on the table at the time, he hadn’t broken out as a player yet.
Woj/Shams also reported that the 76ers were highly interested in a deal to bring Lowry to Philly, but the Raptors asking price of the total package was just way too high.. which caused them to back out and shift to George Hill instead.
Even 76ers GM Daryl Morey came out after the fact, stating the Raptors asking price for Lowry was in “lala land”. Looking back, I think he was right, the FO was definitely too stubborn and made a mistake not taking that initial deal.. we overvalued Lowry, considering the fact there was a 0% chance he was going to continue with us next season.
Everyone knows what Maxey turned into the next 2 seasons… he went from:
– 8 pts, 2 assists, 1 rebound on 30% 3pt
To a MASSIVE jump in his next 2 seasons:
– 17 pts, 4 assists, 3 rebounds on 42% 3pt
– 20 pts, 3 assists, 3 rebounds on 43% 3pt
I hate to say it, but missing out on Maxey is something that may haunt us forever.
by ScotlandBarnes
20 Comments
> I hate to say it, but missing out on Maxey is something that may haunt us forever.
I mean, yes, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t get Maxey, but this is a bit dramatic.
Don’t make me tap the “You kind of had to take the L and do what Lowry wanted at that trade deadline regardless of whether it was beneficial for the long-term health of the team given how blindsided your other franchise’s cornerstone was when the Kawhi trade so it sucks but it’s league politics/perception” sign
Also something something who knows how Maxey develops in our system vs Philly’s, same goes for Thybulle who’s a joke on offense. The two are a bit of an inverse of one another that, combined, would be a really great NBA player.
Everybody makes mistakes. There are probably deals that never made it out to the media that front office people will regret not taking a deal. I remember there were rumors a decade ago about James Harden being sent to the raptors for a package centered around Jonas Valanciunas.
Keep in mind that we traded Norm for Gary, who was definitely better than Maxey at the time. Player development is a weird thing, you can seemingly never predict who will become good and who fizzles out. Part of our problems have been that our development has stagnated with the likes of GTJ, Precious and our other young bench guys. Whether that’s on the players or on the development system, I don’t know
This is why late picks inherently aren’t valuable. Precious and maxey were taken back to back in the same draft and were viewed as roughly equivalent assets until maxey broke out. Looking back on it with hindsight the heat look like clowns taking precious when maxey was there.
don’t forget
because we didn’t trade Lowry there, we signed and traded him to the Heat for Precious and a guy who wouldn’t play and then we traded that guy with a 20th pic for a backup veteran and a 33rd pick and that veteran doesn’t even play for garbage time
Missing out on TYRESE MAXEY is going to “haunt us forever”?
Turning down Maxey for Lowry even though you knew Lowry was leaving in the off-season
Trading a FRP for Thad young
Trading a FRP just to lose the play in game. Now you have 3 UFAs.
Front office keeps shitting their pants. These are moves bottom tier teams make
Hindsight’s 20/20.
Obviously looking back we should have tried harder to get Maxey if he was truly available, but I don’t think even the Sixers were expecting him to be this good this soon. Not to mention Lowry didn’t want to be traded. It would’ve been a bad look to cut the franchise GOAT’s final season short against his wishes, and it could have impacted future signings and relations with agencies, and all for a guy in Maxey who was a relatively unknown quantity at the time.
Let’s be honest. Take off the Raptors homer glasses off and those are pretty ridiculous prices for possibly 20 games from a 35 year old free agent to be
If Maxey was actually on the table, then it was a miss. But I’d have to see some really credible evidence that was the case.
It would shock me that Morey, the guy that bet on Harden before anyone else did, didn’t see what he had with Maxey.
THANK YOU!
To this day, many people here still deny that this was possible back then completely ignoring how Maxey’s stock was not nearly what it is today.
Lowry made the call at the end to stay, and Masai wasn’t gonna go against Lowry’s wishes. It is what it is
These posts are incredibly stupid. We have no idea how serious those talks were.
You know Sam Amick came out on a podcast after the deadline and said the Sixers declined including any of Maxey, Thybulle or a first round pick because they believed we were getting enough value by flipping Danny to Golden State for a first round pick right? But nah you’ll trust Morey’s words as if he didn’t ask for literally everything from us when we showed interest in Simmons that next offseason. There’s no way it was Morey who was trying to fleece us, no possible way.
Maxey was never on the table. This has been reported several times since then.
I don’t believe Maxey was ever fully on the table.
OP – you do realize it takes 2 teams to make a trade. Just because we wanted that deal, doesn’t mean Morey was offering it. This post is just speculation and baseless slander.
OP, I’m going to give you a slightly different take.
So, first, I believe Maxey was on the table. And we probably asked too much. This I base on our recent past trade history (or lack there of).
But, people rightfully say there is no hard proof that deal was on the table. And I agree. Just like I point out that there is no proof that MLSE is making Masai do anything when it comes to the roster. As far as we know, all the decisions being made are by Webster and himself.
What we do know for a fact was that Lowry asked not to be traded. And Masai obliged him. This, I think can be something held against the FO. After all, whatever we got in the trade for Lowry (despite his wishes), it probably would have been as good or better than the S&T we did for Lowry to the Heat. And had that happened, we would never have picked up Dragic, traded a FRP to dump him. And waste a roster space on Thad Young as well.
And with the pick still in hand, maybe we could have done two picks for Poeltl earlier (the Spurs reputed asking price). Or packaged a pick up with Powell for Turner. The options clearly opened up, even if we don’t know exactly what would have happened. But, instead the FO decided that paying the GROAT several hundred million dollars wasn’t care enough and to handicap the franchise for him. 🤷♂️
Only thing is if we got maxey would it have caused us to win more and affecting our draft position for getting scottie? Also i seen some philly fans saying they loved maxey and didnt want to lose him
Can someone link a tweet from a reputable source saying Maxey was on the table? (Ideally from both Toronto/Philly or National reporters – otherwise it’s likely just posturing) I don’t see it despite OP claiming otherwise.
My understanding the offer was Thybulle and the Raps wanted a pick in addition.
Lowry also wanted to stay so the Raptors weren’t going to deal him away just for a shitty return.