Secret 76ers Trade Doc Rivers Regretted Most
- 01. Doc Rivers' most regretted trade in Philadelphia was the Seth Curry deal, the 2020 move that sent Josh Richardson and a second-round pick to Dallas for Curry and quickly became one of the clearest basketball wins of his Sixers tenure.
- 02. Why the Curry trade mattered
- 03. What Rivers likely regretted most
- 04. Trade timeline under Rivers
- 05. How the deal looked in retrospect
- 06. Context around the era
- 07. Final read
Doc Rivers' most regretted trade in Philadelphia was the Seth Curry deal, the 2020 move that sent Josh Richardson and a second-round pick to Dallas for Curry and quickly became one of the clearest basketball wins of his Sixers tenure.
The broader answer to 76ers trades during Doc Rivers' tenure is that Philadelphia made relatively few major roster-shaping deals under him, but the most consequential one was the Seth Curry acquisition, which Rivers publicly praised at the time and later viewed as a model for how the team should have surrounded Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons with shooting. Rivers took over on October 3, 2020, and the Sixers' big transactional swing in his first months was the Curry-for-Richardson swap, a move that immediately changed spacing, shot profile, and late-game offense.
Why the Curry trade mattered
The spacing problem had defined Philadelphia for years, and the Curry move attacked it directly by putting an elite movement shooter next to Embiid and Simmons. In practical terms, Curry gave the Sixers a reliable pull-up and catch-and-shoot threat that forced defenders to stay attached, opening driving lanes and reducing the clutter that had haunted prior playoff attacks. Rivers called it a "no-brainer" at the time, a phrase that aged well because the trade fit the roster construction problem Philadelphia had been trying to solve since the post-Hinkie era.
| Transaction | Date | Sixers received | Sixers sent out | Basketball impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seth Curry trade | Nov. 2020 | Seth Curry | Josh Richardson, second-round pick | Major shooting upgrade and spacing boost |
| Deadline-style core move | 2021 season | No comparable major star trade | - | Rivers mostly worked with the existing core |
| Roster rebalancing | 2021-22 | Depth and role players | Various contracts/assets | Incremental changes rather than a franchise-altering swing |
What Rivers likely regretted most
The Ben Simmons saga is the bigger regret attached to Rivers' Philadelphia years, but that was less a trade than a franchise-defining breakdown that influenced how the team operated around its trade assets and roster decisions. After the 2021 playoff collapse, Rivers made public comments that intensified scrutiny on Simmons, and those remarks became a lasting part of the story around the Sixers' inability to convert talent into a coherent postseason identity. Reporting and later reflections suggested Rivers regretted how he handled that moment, especially because it helped turn an already tense situation into an irreversible one.
That distinction matters because the user intent behind "76ers trades during Doc Rivers tenure" is often connected to the question of which transaction or personnel decision Rivers wished he could redo. The best-supported answer is not that Rivers hated the Curry deal; it is that he likely regretted the fallout around Simmons and the way the roster's ceiling collapsed after the 2021 postseason, which eventually led Philadelphia to reset around a different guard dynamic. The trade conversation around Rivers' era is therefore mostly about the cost of keeping the wrong fit, not about a disastrous blockbuster he personally executed.
Trade timeline under Rivers
Philadelphia's front office under Rivers did not conduct a long list of franchise-altering trades, which is part of why the Sixers' trade history in this period is easy to misread. The defining transaction was Curry in November 2020, and the rest of the roster movement was more about fine-tuning depth than swinging for a star. That meant the team's biggest decisions were often indirect: which players fit Embiid, which guards could survive playoff coverage, and which contracts preserved flexibility for the next move.
- Nov. 2020: Acquire Seth Curry for Josh Richardson and a second-round pick, instantly improving perimeter shooting.
- 2021 offseason: Retain the Embiid-Simmons core while trying to stabilize around them rather than overhaul the roster.
- 2021-22 season: Continue roster adjustments, but without another trade that matched the Curry deal's clear fit value.
How the deal looked in retrospect
The Curry acquisition is often judged as one of the rare Sixers trades that solved an obvious basketball need without sacrificing a core star. Richardson had defensive value, but Philadelphia needed offense more than it needed another wing defender, especially in a lineup built around Embiid's interior gravity and Simmons' non-shooting profile. Curry's presence gave Rivers a cleaner offensive environment and helped validate the idea that the Sixers' problem was not a lack of talent so much as a lack of fit.
"This was a no-brainer."
That quote from Rivers became the simplest shorthand for the trade's logic, and the statement still captures why it stands out as the defining personnel move of his Philadelphia run. It was the kind of transaction coaches love because it addressed a visible weakness rather than chasing a flashy name. It also exposed how much roster value can be created by a single elite skill when the surrounding stars need that skill to function more efficiently.
Context around the era
The 2020 coaching hire gave Philadelphia a veteran voice meant to stabilize a talented but volatile contender, and Rivers arrived with championship credentials and immediate expectations. His tenure was not driven by a high volume of trades, which means the few moves that did happen carry extra interpretive weight. Because the roster was already built around Embiid and Simmons, Rivers' most important judgments were often about fit, trust, and playoff readiness rather than raw asset collection.
By the time his Philadelphia chapter ended, the Sixers' trade story had become inseparable from the broader question of whether the team had maximized its prime years. The Curry trade looked like a success, but the failure to resolve the Simmons situation left the organization with a lingering sense that the more important trade was the one they never fully completed: turning an uncomfortable fit into a coherent championship structure. That is why the "trade Rivers regretted most" framing usually points back to the Simmons aftermath rather than the personnel move itself.
Final read
The simplest way to frame Doc Rivers' Sixers trades is that the Curry deal was the one he liked most, while the Simmons aftermath was the one he most likely regretted. That combination explains why his tenure is remembered less for a flurry of trades and more for one highly effective move followed by one painfully unresolved roster crisis.
Helpful tips and tricks for Secret 76ers Trade Doc Rivers Regretted Most
What trade did Doc Rivers regret most?
The clearest answer is that Rivers' biggest regret in Philadelphia was not the Seth Curry trade; it was the way he handled the Ben Simmons fallout after the 2021 playoff loss, which worsened the situation around the roster's core.
Was the Seth Curry trade a success?
Yes. The Curry-for-Richardson deal is widely viewed as a strong basketball trade because it improved shooting, spacing, and lineup balance around Joel Embiid.
Did the Sixers make many major trades under Doc Rivers?
No. Rivers' tenure featured relatively few blockbuster trades, and the Curry move was the standout transaction in terms of impact and clarity of fit.
Why is Ben Simmons linked to Rivers' trade legacy?
Because the Simmons conflict shaped Philadelphia's long-term roster decisions and became the most consequential personnel storyline of Rivers' era, even though it was not a traditional trade executed by Rivers himself.