Chad Ford is, for better or worse, one of the premier NBA draft experts out there. He’s so good, that he gets it right year after year with his pre-draft rankings.

Speaking on 97.3 ESPN radio in South Jersey, Ford shed his insider light on the Sixers’ frontcourt situation, and it doesn’t look good for Okafor (or it looks great for him, depending on how you look at it):

“I think that there’s a very high likelihood, that whether it’s to move up in the draft or use them to grab a free agent in a sign and trade or just to a trade, that you will not see the Nerlens Noel-Jahlil Okafor pairing at the start of next season. I think that they’ll gauge the interest of both players. I think that there might be a slight preference for Noel, to keep him around with the Sixers, and I think you might be right, there might be a slight, better value for Okafor out on the market, but I think everyone agrees that that combination of those two players doesn’t necessarily work.

The Sixers needs to pick up assets, especially if they’re gonna go ahead and do a Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram with the first pick in the draft. Then they’re gonna need those assets to start to fill out their backcourt, because the 24th pick and [the 26th pick], you’re not finding starters. I’m not even sure that you’re necessarily finding rotation players at that back end of the draft that are gonna make big impact, so they’re gonna have to do that via free agency or via trade, and I think either Okafor or Noel — I don’t think they’ll trade both — but one of those two is probably their best trade chip.”

I’ve been beating the “it’s easier to build around Nerlens” drum for a while now, and if the Sixers admit that Okafor and Noel just will not work, moving Jah has to be the way to go. He’s got two more years under his rookie contract than Nerlens does, he’s got higher actual value amongst the league, and he’ll still only be 20 years old when the season starts.

Now, Chad Ford isn’t exactly a “reporter.” He’s going off of hunches, what he’d do, and what he thinks the Sixers will do. There’s not inside the organization source giving him information. Still, the trade Okafor and keep Noel narrative seems to be gaining some steam.