Dallas and Philadelphia have agreed to a trade for Nerlens Noel. Dallas is reported to be sending Justin Anderson, a protected 2017 1st round pick (1-18), and Andrew Bogut to Philadelphia in exchange for Noel.

Philadelphia is sending Nerlens Noel to Dallas for Justin Anderson and a first-round draft pick, league sources tell @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 23, 2017

Noel has averaged 10.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.7 steals per game in his three years of play with Philadelphia. Beginning with the ACL tear that caused him to fall to the 6th pick in the 2013 draft, Noel has faced a few injury issues in his career. After unsatisfying minutes with the 76ers this year, Noel was at one point asking to be traded. Although his play increased recently, it seems that Philadelphia needed to move one of their big men and Dallas was ready to pull the trigger, sending a late first round pick, a former late-first round pick in Anderson, and expiring salary in Bogut over to Philadelphia to obtain their second young former top 10 overall pick, and their second former #1 overall recruit (Harrison Barnes being the first in each case) this year.

 Noel changes the complexion of the Dallas team, and makes the race for the 8th spot between Dallas, New Orleans, and Denver a far more exciting journey. Anderson struggled to develop in his second year and was overtaken in the rotation coming out of training camp by undrafted rookie Dorian Finney-Smith. Look for a full analysis from Hashtag Basketball coming out of the All-Star break.