The Philadelphia 76ers are mired in the midst of a lost season, and they seemingly know it. Rather than spending assets on win-now pieces ahead of the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline, they pivoted into more of a youth movement.

On Tuesday, the Sixers traded veteran forward Caleb Martin to the Dallas Mavericks for fourth-year guard Quentin Grimes and their own 2025 second-round pick back. (They later had to include a 2030 second-round pick because of an issue that popped up during Martin's physical, according to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein.)

Two days later, they sent veteran guard Reggie Jackson along with a 2026 first-round pick (via the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers or Oklahoma City Thunder) to the Washington Wizards for two-way player Jared Butler and four future second-round picks.

If the Sixers were intent on salvaging what was left of this season, they would have kept KJ Martin rather than spending two second-round picks to salary-dump him. They might try to spin it as giving them additional flexibility—they can now sign someone on the buyout market who was earning more than the $12.8 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception—but their main motivation was to duck the luxury tax. That was a waste of both draft-pick and contractual resources.

The Sixers have been ravaged by injuries this season, which is largely why they sit 10 games under .500 heading into Friday. They still might leapfrog the Chicago Bulls, who traded leading scorer Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings ahead of the deadline, but they're unlikely to land a guaranteed playoff spot. They're 5.5 games behind the sixth-seeded Miami Heat, who finally resolved their Jimmy Butler headache by shipping him to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

Even if the Sixers make it into the play-in tournament and advance, they’ll likely face the Cleveland Cavaliers or Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The odds of them going on a deep postseason run are virtually nil. That may explain why they didn't prioritize veteran help at the deadline.

Instead, their pivot toward youth could help put them in a better position to compete in 2025-26 if they're more fortunate on the health front next season.

Caleb Martin, who turns 30 in September, is a known commodity. He's a physical, two-way forward who has averaged roughly 10 points and four rebounds per game over each of the past four seasons. He has a steady floor (when healthy) but a limited ceiling.

Grimes is more of a wild card. He shot a career-high 39.8% from deep this season while averaging 10.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in only 22.8 minutes per game during his 47 appearances with the Mavericks. He also has more on-ball creation chops than Martin, who's a willing ball-mover but not a reliable source of self-created offense.

Martin (6'5", 205 pounds) and Grimes (6'4", 210 pounds) are both listed as being around the same size, although Martin has spent far more time defending wings and bigs than Grimes, according to BBall Index. Grimes is more of a point-of-attack defender, which could make him an intriguing fit alongside either Tyrese Maxey or Jared McCain (who's out for the season because of a meniscus tear).

Butler has played far more sparingly than Grimes across their respective four-year NBA careers, but he showed major flashes of promise this season in Washington. He's averaging a career-high 6.9 points in only 11.3 minutes per game while shooting 48.3% overall and 36.6% from three-point range.

Even with McCain sidelined, the Sixers' backcourt is still crowded with Maxey, Grimes, Butler and veterans Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon. Three-guard lineups featuring the 6'3", 193-pound Butler might not have enough size to hold up defensively, so it bears watching whether he can supplant Lowry in the rotation.

Even if the Sixers were primarily motivated to make the Butler trade because of the draft-pick compensation that changed hands, the Sixers might as well see what they have in him. If they feel confident in him as a third-string guard behind Maxey, McCain and Grimes moving forward, that's one less hole that they'll have to fill this offseason.

In the wake of their trade deadline moves, the Sixers now have three open roster spots. According to ESPN's Shams Charania, they've temporarily filled one of them by signing Chuma Okeke to a 10-day contract.

Okeke, the No. 16 overall pick from the 2019 NBA draft, is the exact type of player whom the Sixers should take a flier on throughout the rest of this season. He was an offensive liability during his four years in Orlando—he shot only 38.3% overall and 31.8% from deep across 189 appearances—but he's been a more potent scorer with the Westchester Knicks in the G League this season.

The Sixers will now have the four games leading into the All-Star break to see how Okeke fits with their Big Three of Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George. If he passes his audition, they can re-sign him to another 10-day contract before they have to decide whether to hand him a rest-of-season deal.

As Keith Smith of Spotrac recently noted, Butler is nearing the 50-game limit that he's allowed to play on a two-way contract. The Sixers figure to convert both him and Justin Edwards from two-way deals to standard contracts in the coming days, especially now that they're far enough below the luxury-tax line to not be in danger of crossing back over.

Before converting Edwards and/or Butler, the Sixers might prefer to see how the buyout market shakes out. However, it might be tough for them to sell their top targets on joining a team that's 10 games below .500. They'd have to sell the number of minutes they could have available rather than their proximity to realistic championship contention this year.

Since the Sixers are still committed to their Big Three for now, they'll need to continue hitting on moves on the margins. Drafting McCain and their late-August signing of Guerschon Yabusele were clear home runs, but the rest of their offseason moves haven't panned out as hoped. They're going to have their hands relatively tied by the NBA's collective bargaining agreement in free agency, which makes it imperative for them to find inexpensive rotation players.

As they try to chase down the Bulls for the final spot of the play-in tournament, the Sixers should also have one eye on the future in that regard. Based on their moves at the trade deadline, they seem to be thinking along those lines as well.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

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