Sixers

No One Wants Nerlens Noel

By Kyle Scott

Published: Jul 28th, 2017 · 9:21 AM EDT

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Nerlens Noel is a restricted free agent with the Mavericks and hasn’t signed yet because he has received lowball offers from them and has not gotten a qualifying offer from another team, which means, to date, the Mavs hold all the cards.

Here’s Haley O’Shaughnessy of The Ringer writing about it:

Dealt to Dallas from a Philly storage unit of NBA bigs in February, Noel finished the season projected to become a sought-after restricted free agent. His ho-hum stats (8.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game) are filled with caveats — with the 76ers he was never healthy; with the Mavs he sacrificed floor time for the greater tanking good — but Noel’s shot-blocking and rim-running still make him glow with modern big-man upside.

Teams want him, or so reports said. He’ll be offered maximum contracts, or so reports said. He’s someone Dallas has “got to get signed,” or so Rick Carlisle said. But nearly a month in, the prized 23-year-old hasn’t accepted an offer sheet from any organization. To borrow a line from ’90s PBS, where in the world is Nerlens Noel?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that this sort of backs Bryan Colangelo’s decision to trade Noel for a fake first round pick. But I think it could be the complete opposite. Yes, the fact that the league is turning their nose up at Noel, a big who can’t shoot, might vindicate the decision to give him away. But if you’ll recall, at the time, the justification for trading Noel was that he could have been offered a max deal this summer which the Sixers would have had to match if they wanted to keep him around. But the fact that there is essentially no interest in Noel means that the Sixers likely could’ve kept him around for another year for much less than anticipated and without having to match a big offer. He’s certainly not Joel Embiid, but I am still of the belief that the Sixers would have been a better team with Noel on their roster, even if that meant literally just giving away Jahlil Okafor.