Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers are in the final stages of a trade to send Ersan Ilyasova to Atlanta. As that deal moves closer to being done, the Chicago Bulls are knocking on the door of a Jahlil Okafor deal. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bulls continue to pursue the second-year big man as we head into the meat of trade deadline week.
Chicago has continued to push on a trade for 76ers center Jahlil Okafor, league sources tell @TheVertical. Discussions continue.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 23, 2017
Jahlil Okafor has handled everything thrown at him this season. He started the year as Embiid's primary back-up, started when he was unable to play, but slowly began to lose playing time when Nerlens Noel returned and now rarely even plays when both Embiid and Noel are healthy. In addition to that, Okafor has sat out due to ongoing trade rumors, all while just making sure he handles everything with the utmost professionalism day in and day out. He's done an A+ job with all of that stuff.
All that aside though, it's tough to imagine Okafor fitting with the Sixers long term. He's a strictly offensive center with very little defensive ability and his lack of pace really doesn't fit what the team is trying to do. Okafor has trouble picking up simple pick-and-roll defenses and simply doesn't have the defensive presence of Embiid, Noel or Holmes, making him less valuable than all three.
This season for the Sixers, Okafor is averaging 11.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 38 games.
