There's One Silver Lining In The Philadelphia 76ers' Nightmare Trade For Andrew Bynum

Andrew Bynum will undergo season-ending knee surgery tomorrow, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports, meaning that he won't play a single second in the 2012-13 season after the Philadelphia 76ers traded for him last summer.

This is the absolute nightmare scenario for Philly.

They gave up Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, and Moe Harkless to get Bynum before the season. Since then, Iguodala has turned the Denver Nuggets into a contender, Vucevic has averaged a double-double, and Harkless has proved to be a promising defensive player.

Bynum, on the other hand, hasn't stepped foot on the court. He re-aggravated a knee injury while bowling last fall, and has suffered a litany of setbacks since.

Philly blew up its team, and got literally nothing in return.

But there is one silver lining — the Sixers won't be on the hook for Bynum's $16.9 million salary. Sixers president Rod Thorn told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week that insurance will at least partially reimburse the team for Bynum's injury if he misses the entire season under a league-wide policy.

Players with preexisting conditions are not covered under this policy, but apparently Bynum (who has a history of lower-body injuries) was cleared by doctors and did not have a preexisting condition.

Bynum is an unrestricted free agent this summer. Everyone in the basketball world expected him to get a max contract going into this year, but it's risky given his injury history.

The Sixers will have to choose to cut bait by letting Bynum leave for nothing, or double-down on their nightmare trade and hope he gets healthy and stays healthy.

Sadly, Bynum's only contribution to the NBA this year was his bizarre hair: