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Nerlens Noel is in Delaware, nearing an NBA return, so now what?

Ben Rohrbach
Senior NBA writer
Nerlens Noel looks to the future. (Getty Images)
Nerlens Noel looks to the future. (Getty Images)

Nerlens Noel is part of the basketball consciousness again, but not as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. There’s a bullet to that point, since he was assigned Wednesday to the team’s D-League affiliate in Delaware, for what multiple media outlets are reporting is a rehab stint that will not include games.

But there’s also serious doubt over whether he will be a member of the Sixers after that stint as well.

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Ever since the Sixers selected centers with their top lottery pick in three successive drafts — Noel at No. 6 in 2013, Joel Embiid at No. 3 in 2014 and Jahlil Okafor again at No. 3 in 2015 — it’s been no secret that Philadelphia is not big enough for the three of them. If and when they’re all healthy, an inevitability that appears mere weeks away after almost 20 months of waiting, something’s gotta give.

A report by ESPN’s Marc Stein over Thanksgiving weekend returned that suspicion to the forefront:

Noel has yet to appear in a game this season after electing to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery last month, but word is he’d still prefer to be shipped to a new address with so many big men to battle for playing time in Philly. Count on the Sixers to accommodate him eventually.

This is not new news. Maybe not in so many words, but Noel said as much publicly on media day:

A week before the season, based on input from multiple medical experts, Noel opted to undergo arthroscopic surgery on the same left knee that cost him his entire rookie season. That decision freed up the logjam, allowing 76ers coach Brett Brown to split time early on between Embiid as the starter on another injury-mandated minutes restriction and Jahlil Okafor as an Enes Kanter-esque sixth man.

But the logjam is just around the corner again, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report last week:

“As of right now, I’m still feeling it out myself, probably around a couple of weeks,” Noel said Monday. “I think I’m in a good place right now to start building back into game shape.”

However, Sixers coach Brett Brown doesn’t want to rush things. Brown thinks it will be more like a few weeks.

“I think realistically he hasn’t done anything,” Brown said. “To think that he’s going to come back and play NBA basketball, to me, any sooner than that is a little bit far-reaching.”

Whether it’s “a couple of weeks” or “a few,” Wednesday’s decision to send him to Delaware, where Noel will practice with the developmental 87ers for an unspecified time, signals his return is nearing.

Noel and Embiid have yet to play together, but Noel and Okafor were a disaster in 696 minutes on the floor together last season. The Sixers were outscored by 20 points per 100 possessions with that duo sharing the court, posting an offensive rating (88.8 points per 100 possessions) and a defensive rating (108.8 points allowed per 100 possessions) that respectively ranked on par with the league’s worst and second-to-last team marks. That’s because neither Noel nor Okafor can shoot. The pair combined to make 25.2 percent of 139 attempts from outside of 16 feet in 2015-16. And to give you an idea of how Brown feels about pairing Okafor with Embiid, they have played just two minutes together all season.

This isn’t to say Okafor and Noel are similar players. In many ways, they’re exact opposites. Okafor is defensively deficient with potential as a fundamental low-post scoring option, and Noel is offensively deficient with potential as an athletic rim-protecting big man. And yet Noel’s numbers were superior almost across the board last season, as he anchored Philadelphia’s more successful lineups. There remains a possibility that one of them could coexist with the floor-spreading Embiid, but not both.

So, why is Noel considered the most likely odd man out in Philly? Embiid is untouchable, so the choice comes down to Noel, whose injury history is cause for concern, or Okafor, who is under the team’s financial control for an additional season. Noel becomes a restricted free agent this summer, so the Sixers have between now and February to deal him before potentially losing him for nothing. Noel’s willingness to publicly question how he’ll coexist on the roster isn’t helping matters, either.

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The problem for 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo is that potential trade partners — and there should be many lining up for a 22-year-old athletic 7-footer at the right price — understand the risks, too. So, don’t expect any team to meet Colangelo’s asking price if it’s still as high as it was rumored to be in June, when the Sixers reportedly sought the No. 3 pick and more from the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics are still among a handful of teams in need of rebounding and/or rim protection that might be interested in Noel’s services. The Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards and Portland Trail Blazers are among other teams that should inquire. And if Colangelo can create a bidding war, there’s a decent package to be had — a late first-rounder, maybe.

Noel did average 11.1 points on better than 50 percent shooting to go along with 8.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks in less than 30 minutes per game last season, albeit for a horrendous Sixers team. And the guy is capable of highlight-reel blocks against the likes of James Harden …

… and Kevin Durant …

… and similarly capable of highlight-reel dunks on the other end against the likes of Rudy Gobert …

… and Andre Drummond …

Still, a late first-round pick is probably the best the Sixers will get for a big man rental with a litany of injuries who can’t shoot and is looking for the right situation. And they may not get it until Noel proves he’s healthy enough to contribute this season, which could make Brown’s rotations all the more strange for a while and might even make the Philadelphia locker room a little colder than usual.

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The irony is that Noel’s D-League assignment came on the same day Sports Illustrated published an article, “After The Process: Meet Sam Hinkie 2.0,” in which the former Sixers GM who selected three straight centers at the top of the draft asked, “Why do we watch basketball games front to back? Why not watch games back to front, or out of order?” Nor was it lost on anyone that those two news items occurred just as Brown finally planned to play Embiid and Okafor together for extensive minutes in front of a home crowd on Wednesday night, only to have the game postponed due to a slippery floor.

Noel has never played with Embiid, he can’t play with Okafor and an act of God seemingly prevented Embiid from sharing the floor with Okafor, not to mention a broken foot has kept Philadelphia’s No. 1 overall pick this past draft, Ben Simmons, from suiting up with any of his fellow high picks. So, trusting the process has become increasingly difficult, especially for Noel, who may no longer be a part of it.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!