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Sixers GM took Evan Turner to the airport after trading him to Pacers

The Sixers are building for the future, or tanking for ping pong balls in the draft lottery if you’re a bit more cynical. As such, they traded away two of their three best veteran players at the deadline in Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes for nothing more than future possibilities.

Turner’s deal made the most sense, considering he’ll require a qualifying offer of $8.7 million this summer just to maintain his rights as a restricted free agent, and Philadelphia can likely get similar pieces through the draft in the next couple of years for far less of a salary cap expense.

There were no hard feelings on the team’s side, however, and first-year Sixers GM Sam Hinkie made that clear with a gesture he made to Turner on his way out of town.

From John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com:

There’s an old joke about volunteering to drive an unwanted player to the airport just to get him out of town. Except when the Sixers traded Evan Turner to Indiana, it wasn’t a joke. Sam Hinkie actually hopped in the car with Turner and took him to catch his flight. That had to be an awfully strange ride.

“It was random, for sure,” Turner said. “But I can shoot the s— with anyone. It was cool, man. Hinkie is definitely a cool guy. He comes off as reserved. Sometimes you don’t really know what to take from him at first, but he talks and he’s cool and he has pretty cool stories. It was just a kind gesture. I appreciate that.”

Turner had previously come off as combative with Hinkie, saying he was not his GM after failing to receive a contract extension earlier this season.

But the fences seem to have been mended by this unusual gesture, in case an opportunity to reunite under different circumstances should arise at some point in the future.