Why the 76ers do it? This is one of maybe two trades (a trade for Mikal Bridges potentially being the other) that would presumably improve the 76ers odds for a championship this season while also preserving a maximum salary slot for this upcoming summer. You’d have to imagine that a trio of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Lauri Markkanen would look very intriguing to a guy like Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, or maybe even LeBron James, as well as second-tier free agents like DeMar DeRozan or OG Anunoby. Even taking that maximum salary slot out of consideration, Markkanen is a worthwhile piece for the 76ers to overpay for, as he is relatively young and his multi-level scoring and rebounding abilities would complement Embiid and Maxey really well. Paul is on an expiring contract and would be a very nice stopgap piece for this season should he return healthily from injury. A lesser-relevant benefit of this trade for the 76ers would be them dropping below the luxury tax threshold.

Why the Kings do this? Harris and Melton would pretty undoubtedly both be talent and fit upgrades for the Kings over Huerter and Barnes. Sure, both are unrestricted free agents this upcoming summer but the Kings would have the room to re-sign both players and keep them around throughout the foreseeable future, which they would presumably like to do. Sacrificing one protected first-round pick would be a worthwhile investment for both of these upgrades.

Why the Jazz do it? The Jazz do not want to trade Markkanen, therefore, it’ll take a lot for him to be traded out of Utah. That’s exactly what they get here. They get five first-round picks (two of which are unprotected in the distant future), a solid starter in Barnes on a reasonable and controllable contract that they can flip for more assets should they choose to do so, and two younger pieces they could attempt to fit around the remainder of their core pieces.

Why the Warriors do it? The Warriors get involved here in an effort to dump salary while also getting themselves a nice, controllable piece in Huerter that should fit well around the remainder of their core. This trade would shed more than $10 million dollars from their salary cap total this year (which would lead to more than $40 million in luxury tax savings). Acquiring Huerter alongside the luxury tax savings would definitely be worth a future, protected first-round pick for this team.