Hope is not a strategy. It is a lack of options. Right now, it is all the Sixers have. They can hope that Joel Embiid is back for good. They can hope that his knee responds to its latest test. They can hope that he is still a player who makes a team a contender.

On Tuesday, the Sixers sent Caleb Martin to the Dallas Mavericks in a deal that netted them sharpshooter Quentin Grimes. Philadelphia is looking for financial flexibility as well as Grimes' ability to shoot the ball at a high clip and defend on the other end of the floor.

If the Sixers are looking to make a big shakeup by the trade deadline, it almost has to involve George. Embiid isn’t eligible to be traded until the offseason, and trading Maxey is likely a non-starter for now (although TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott recently made a case for it).