76ers deal Turner, Hawes, collect draft picks

The Sixers let go of Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes Thursday and will have a new look down the stretch this season. Credit: Getty Images

To say the Sixers were active in the hours leading up to Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline would be an understatement.

The struggling team shipped off two key players, one homegrown spark off the bench and a second round pick.

But they added five draft picks, a one-time All-Star and three high potential but still unproven players.

The biggest blockbuster came last, announced shorty after the 3 p.m. deadline. Evan Turner, and Lavoy Allen were shipped to Indiana in exchange for injury-plagued former All-Star Danny Granger.

In another headline grabbing move, Philly sent Spencer Hawes, a finesse center, to Cleveland (perhaps as a backup plan for the departed Andrew Bynum).

In exchange, the Sixers got two second round picks and two players, Earl Clark and Henry Sims.

Two more moves took place, each of them netting the Sixers more pieces.

They got Byron Mullens, a center from the Clippers and Eric Maynor, a guard from the Wizards.

In all, the Sixers gave themselves five more opportunities to draft talent, in addition to the two lottery picks they will likely have in this summer’s draft.

Many of the moves will free the 76ers up to chase after a big-name free agent in the offseason, with most of the accumulated players’ contracts set to expire at the end of the year.

Granger is one of those players with an expiring contract and he will likely not see much time in a Sixers uniform.

Clark and Sims each average less than six points per game and played limited minutes in Cleveland.

Maynor was also rarely used by the Wizards, and has $2.1 million coming off the books at seasons end. Mullen, a 7-footer, has a player option for $1 million and played 27 games from the bench for the Clippers.