Philadelphia Paid Two Future Choices for a Late First-Round Center
The June 22, 2017 NBA draft produced a rights trade that sent Anžejs Pasečņiks from Orlando to Philadelphia. Orlando had used the twenty-fifth overall selection on the Latvian center, whose European development made him a longer-term prospect. The 76ers offered a conditional 2020 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round choice tied to the less favorable of Brooklyn and New York's selections. The first carried protection terms rather than being an unqualified top selection. Philadelphia was wagering that a specific international prospect would be worth more than the future draft flexibility, while Orlando preferred two later assets.
The Sixers Never Obtained Pasečņiks NBA Minutes
Pasečņiks did not become a Philadelphia regular-season player through the 2017 rights acquisition. He remained overseas while the organization continued developing other frontcourt options and ultimately moved on without turning the draft choice into a Sixers rotation appearance. His subsequent NBA time in Washington belongs to a different franchise agreement and cannot retroactively rescue Philadelphia's original return. A low Sixers grade is appropriate because the club surrendered a future first and another second without receiving direct on-court production. The situation differs from drafting a useful reserve who played for several seasons before being moved again.
Orlando Converted the First Into a Later Trade Asset
The protected first-round pick eventually conveyed as No. 21 in 2020, which was used to select Tyrese Maxey. However, Orlando did not draft or develop Maxey. The Magic included that future pick in the February 2019 transaction that sent Markelle Fultz from Philadelphia to Orlando. The second-round choice eventually became No. 47, associated with Yam Madar, and followed its own series of later rights transfers. Those are genuine values from the original 2017 trade, but the later pick names are a record of what the selections became, not proof of Magic minutes by Maxey or Madar.
The Magic Retained Leverage, Not the Players Drafted Years Later
Orlando exchanged an overseas prospect for two draft assets and later used the first as part of a package to acquire a young guard in Fultz. Philadelphia received Pasečņiks's rights and did not convert them into any NBA contribution, even though the same organization eventually drafted Maxey using the pick returned in a separate deal. The multiple transactions need to remain independent: Fultz had his own asset price in 2019, and Maxey's Sixers career cannot be credited directly to the 2017 Orlando trade. The Magic's advantage is substantial in terms of pick leverage, although the revised grade stops short of claiming all later returns as a single one-step victory.
Final Verdict
Magic Win. Orlando receives A- for obtaining a future first and second in exchange for No. 25 Anžejs Pasečņiks, retaining assets it could later trade. Philadelphia gets D+ because Pasečņiks never played an NBA game for the Sixers. The first eventually became 2020 No. 21 Tyrese Maxey but returned to Philadelphia through the separate 2019 Markelle Fultz trade; Orlando must not be credited with Maxey's Sixers production or Yam Madar's subsequent rights path.