Philadelphia 76ers president and general manager Bryan Colangelo recently denied that the team is "aggressively shopping" young centers Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel this offseason and said that he is "not feeling pressure to deal" any of the two big men.
Rumors that the Sixers could potentially trade either Okafor or Noel, or both, have been swirling since news went out that 2014 third overall pick Joel Embiid will finally suit up for the team this upcoming season.
With 7-foot, 250-pound Embiid around, Philly is set to have an overloaded frontcourt of young and talented big men, which includes the three aforementioned centers, Croatian forward Dario Saric, and this year's top draft pick Ben Simmons, all trying to prove something in head coach Brett Brown's current lineup.
The Sixers are also evidently in need of an experienced point guard that can balance their roster and guide the youngsters both on and off the court.
However, ESPN reported that Colangelo was adamant that the club will not make any moves just for the sake of making a trade and that he is not pressured to do anything even with training camp several days away.
"Making a statement that absolutely something will be done is not necessarily the case," said Colangelo. "I think what I said over the course of the summer is there is no doubt that we got three talented players. It's a high-class problem to have."
The Boston Celtics are the most popular trade partners for Philly right now, yet "nothing is close to getting done" with them or with any other team at the moment.
The report noted, though, that Colangelo is expected to continue to "shop Noel and Okafor - especially if Joel Embiid can stay healthy and put up solid numbers when he's on the floor - although that is something he won't acknowledge to the media".
"The notion that we were out shopping any of them and aggressively pushing to make a deal is not the case," the executive said. "We certainly listened because a lot of people thought we were in a corner."
Colangelo admitted, though, that the team could face the problem of someone leaving soon when the contracts of his three big men begin to expire one at a time, as per the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"Some of it will work itself out with contract negotiations and free agency. There's different things that are staggered in terms of time line. First up, Nerlens Noel. Second up, Joel Embiid. Third would be Okafor, in terms of contract staggering. So there's some of that that's in play," he added.
