Jahlil Okafor can take a deep breath. He no longer has to sit on the bench in Philadelphia.
The Sixers will trade Okafor along with Nik Stauskas and a second-round pick (via the Knicks) to the Nets in exchange for Trevor Booker, according to ESPN's Zach Lowe. Brooklyn will release Sean Kilpatrick to make room for Okafor and Stauskas, according to The Vertical's Shams Charania.
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Okafor failed to crack the rotation in the Sixers' last 13 games and has only logged 25 minutes all season. He should get a fresh start with the Nets and could eat up some of the 21.9 minutes per game Booker leaves behind.
Stauskas had also struggled to find time in Philadelphia, but he has an opportunity to thrive off the bench in Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson's system. The Nets fire off the second-most 3-point attempts per game in the NBA (33.9) behind only the Rockets (44.0). That fits perfectly with Stauskas' game.
The asking price for Okafor had dropped severely since last season, so the Sixers snagging Booker in this deal could be viewed as a steal. Philly declined Okafor's fourth-year option earlier this season, guaranteeing he would be gone one way or another by the end of the season. This trade allows the Sixers to (somewhat) save face following several ugly months of drama.
Brooklyn now has two of the top three picks from the 2015 NBA Draft on its roster with Okafor (No. 3) and D'Angelo Russell (No. 2 behind top overall choice Karl-Anthony Towns). The change of scenery seemed to help Russell, who was averaging a team-high 20.9 points per game this season before suffering a knee injury. We'll see if Okafor can alter the course of his career with a new franchise.
