Daryl Morey has no regrets about the Al Horford trade that could cost the Sixers a first-rounder

As Daryl Morey expressed last month, the 76ers’ president of basketball operations has no regrets.

That’s because Morey was seen as turning a bad situation into a manageable one by agreeing to rid the Sixers of Al Horford’s contract on Nov. 18, 2020, the night of the 2020 NBA draft.

Morey agreed to send the 34th pick, a future first-rounder, and Horford to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a package that included three-and-D player Danny Green.

But as it turns out, the future first-rounder is top-six protected in next month’s draft. Translation: They will only keep the pick if it lands within the top six during May 12’s NBA draft lottery. The Sixers, who finished with the league’s fifth-worst record of 24-58, can’t afford to lose the pick.

» READ MORE: Sixers to get a better idea of draft, free agency options in NBA lottery

They need to add a young standout to play alongside Tyrese Maxey and take some of the load off Joel Embiid and Paul George, who both had disappointing injury-plagued seasons.

Without the pick, the Sixers don’t appear to have many options due to Embiid and George having seemingly hard-to-trade contracts.

“First off, I feel very good about that trade because it put us in a great spot,” Morey said of the 2020-21 season. “It was before coach [Nick Nurse] was here, but we were the one-seed going into the playoffs. Usually, that gives you a 40-50% chance to make the finals. So I feel good that we got good value out of that trade.

“Danny Green was great for us. Seth Curry was [acquired in] a different trade. But anyway, I feel good about that.”

Not only do the Sixers have a 63.9% chance of keeping their pick, they have 10.5% chance of winning the lottery.

If they do keep the pick, the Sixers will owe their 2026 first-rounder to OKC if it doesn’t fall in the top four picks. If that doesn’t convey, the pick will be top-four protected in 2027. Should the Sixers manage to retain it, the Thunder will get a 2027 second-rounder.

But getting from underneath Horford’s massive contract was widely celebrated when the trade was agreed upon.

Horford was a few months removed from a disappointing first season of the four-year, $97 million contract he signed on July 10, 2019. The five-time All-Star could have made $109 million with championship bonuses.

» READ MORE: After a disastrous season, there’s only one thing for the Sixers to do now, Andre Drummond says

The Sixers acquired him to be the starting power forward and to back up Embiid at center. However, it became obvious that Horford was out of position at power forward. And not serving as a good fit with Embiid and Ben Simmons, he was demoted to full-time backup center. The problem was that an annual base salary of $24.2 million was a lot of money for a reserve.

That’s why the Sixers were willing to give OKC a first-rounder to take in Horford’s contract.

Morey noted these types of trades are now happening with less frequency.

“I think it’s not just us. It’s like league-wide,” he said. “There is a sort of a shift in how firsts are sort of being held. Less traded, less protected. They’re only traded in bigger trades when it’s someone like a Paul George who’s moving teams or something like that. So I think that’s shifting.

“That’s one reason why we made a trade of a first and the four seconds because we wanted the ability to upgrade the team next season by having sort of a bigger set of assets and things like that.”

Morey was referencing the Feb. 6 acquisition of Jared Butler and four second-round picks from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Reggie Jackson and a 2026 first-round pick.

The Sixers will receive the more favorable 2027 second-round pick between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns. They’ll also nab the Warriors’ 2028 second-rounder, the Wizards’ 2030 second-rounder, and the more favorable pick in 2030 between the Suns and Portland Trail Blazers.

The Sixers also reacquired their second-round pick and Quentin Grimes in a trade from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Caleb Martin and a 2030 second-round pick before February’s trade deadline.

» READ MORE: Nick Nurse was never the problem this season. But he’ll need a healthy roster to prove it.

The pick the Sixers reacquired will be No. 35 on June 26, the second day of the draft.

“That’s going to be a tool for us,” Morey said. “We have 64% odds to have a top pick in this draft. That’ll be another tool. If you look at teams that make aggressive moves like us and then have a rough season, most of the time those teams have, like, no draft picks. We have above-average draft picks going forward to improve the team for next season. We have a whole set of younger players … a lot of tools in our arsenal to upgrade the team, whereas most teams that go into the season with the third-best title odds like we did and have a rough year, [they] don’t have much maneuverability. We feel like we have a lot of maneuverability with our assets going forward and the young players coach developed.”