A look back at the most iconic Woj bombs in Sixers’ history

With the news that GOAT NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski is retiring, we look back at his best Sixers-related Woj bombs.

In case you hadn’t heard, the most predominant news breaker in the NBA, Adrian Wojnarowski, announced Wednesday that he would be stepping away from his role at ESPN. No longer will Wojnarowski, or “Woj” be one of the first to break every new piece of news in the association. Instead he is to become the general manager of St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball program.

So as I, along with everyone else who uses Twitter as their main source of news gathering, reminisce about Woj’s best and worst moments, here are some of his most famous bombs about your Philadelphia 76ers.

Who could forget the bomb that kickstarted the Process? It was a thrilling draft night surprise, as the Sixers moved up to take Nerlens Noel with the sixth pick, someone many believed would go No. 1 overall in this draft. Not only were they reaching for a tantalizing prospect, but this was a loud signal to the rest of the league that the Sixers were hitting the reset button on the team.

They were finally acknowledging that the core of Jrue, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes was not good enough for what the team hoped to accomplish. While Noel’s career hit a lot of unfortunate twists, this bomb still represents the dawning of a new era.

While the Noel trade is a symbol of a new era, the selection of Joel Embiid is the actual arrival of that era. They had many high draft picks during this time, but of course the one that hit is the one that matters the most.

This was one of the last positive Woj bombs of the Hinkie era. This caused a big fork in the road among Sixers fans at the time. Either you saw that the league was already catching up to MCW and he had already played his best minutes in the NBA, or you were enamored with what he had already shown and didn’t wan’t to get rid of one of the few productive players on the roster. Unfortunately for Carter-Williams, the former ended up proving true.

Another bomb that spurned a ton of optimism, but that feeling was easily the peak of Markelle Fultz’s time in Philadelphia. This story seemed to leak out in pieces; that Boston was open to moving the No. 1 pick and that the Sixers were among many teams interested in jumping up to get it and use it to select Fultz. By the time the trade finally broke, it caused such a euphoria it broke out an armageddon of retweets. What a shame it all went downhill immediately after this.

One year later, who could forget Woj’s dancing around words so he could still spoil the draft on Twitter without his bosses at ESPN getting mad at him for spoiling the draft on Twitter? It appears he was so focused on coming up with the word “enamored” he misspelled Landry Shamet’s name. Regardless, the Shamet pick ended up being such a surprising success for the Sixers they were able to use him in a larger trade package at the deadline his rookie season.

Be honest, you were excited when you woke up to see this news (or if you were awake when Woj broke this news at 2 a.m.). While he wasn’t the first to break the Jimmy Butler trade earlier that year, Woj got the scoop the night before the trade deadline that the Sixers would be trading for Tobias Harris. Again, his tenure didn’t end how anyone wanted, but this trade gave the Sixers the most talented starting five on paper in the conference at the time.

Call them bombs from the bubble. The news about Doc Rivers was considerably less surprising. After Brett Brown, the front office quickly pivoted to a coach with a respected name around the league and long resume. The Morey news was very surprising however, especially given that it came after Rivers was already hired. The Sixers already had (and still do have) a general manager in Elton Brand, and it looked like the front office was set in place with a new coach hired as well.

While it wasn’t as egregious as the 2018 draft night, there was definitely still an emphasis for Woj to not spoil picks going forward, as you can see here. This was such a relieving bomb, as fans were sweating that the previous 10 picks or so would not be Tyrese Maxey. Honestly, the previous bomb that the Miami Heat were selecting Precious Achiuwa had to feel just as good, assuring that Maxey would be available at 21 for the Sixers.

Wasn’t this a fun holiday treat? While Woj was not the first to break the original Ben Simmons-for-James Harden deal, he had many scoops during the Harden saga in Philadelphia. This broke less than an hour before the Sixers were about to tip off against the Knicks at MSG on Christmas Day. It felt so random, given Houston’s status as a rebuilding team, and the fact that Harden was still months away from free agency. It was out of left field at the time, but showed signs of the rift between Harden and Daryl Morey before reaching a breaking point.

By the spring, it had all started to crumble. No one was surprised to see this news after the Sixers embarrassed themselves in a Game 7 against the Boston Celtics a few days earlier. Despite how angry everyone was with the team, this bomb was still much better received than the bomb that brought news of Rivers’ hiring.

The Sixers and Clippers just love doing business in the wee hours of the night, don’t they. While Woj didn’t scoop Harden’s arriving trade to Philly, he was there first for his departing trade. This was another pleasant surprise for Sixers’ fans to wake up to, as many thought Harden’s trade demand and the ensuing drama would last well into the season, potentially all the way to the trade deadline.

The Clippers were also involved with this one, so it’s fitting that this one also broke at a ridiculous hour. This one also felt like an inevitability by the time it broke, as the Clippers and Orlando Magic had both already dropped out of the Paul George sweepstakes. By the time the official word came though, there was still plenty of excitement left to go around. This bomb, like many others on this list, caused a lot of newfound hope and optimism on the team, but it’s up to the Sixers to come through on that feeling.