Tuesday morning means it is time for our weekly Sixers mailbag. As you can tell by the headline above, we are starting out with some heavy stuff before diving into rotation and salary cap questions.
Let's talk about what is on your mind:
From @bfriedman.bsky.social: Why should anyone care about the 76ers?
This is one of the most common questions I am asked in real life, so it is worth writing about here. It is an entirely fair question given the pure misery Sixers fans experienced last season and the number of ominous signs about potential troubles in 2025-26 and the years to come. It is also never my place to tell fans what they should or should not enjoy or care about. Your frustrations and concerns regarding the health and contracts of Joel Embiid and Paul George are more than valid and it is fair for those things to put a damper on all of this.
What I will say is this: one of my favorite parts about covering a team on a daily basis is the ability to observe long-term growth. My first year covering every Sixers game was Tyrese Maxey's rookie season; I watched flashes of promise turn into full-blown stardom, an iconic shot-making display at Madison Square Garden and a contract worth more than $200 million.
Perhaps, given that the Sixers do have a strong nucleus of young talent now, a similar approach could help fans find value in watching the team. Nothing can be a quality substitute for genuine championship hopes, but there are other things to enjoy in a basketball team.
Maxey remains very young with some room for growth, but he is pretty close to reaching peak form. Other players, though, have massive growth spurts ahead of them. Jared McCain is only 23 games into his NBA career and has clear star upside. McCain has so much potential that he could be the face of this franchise one day if things break right. VJ Edgecombe has yet to step onto an NBA court; the 20-year-old Bahamian guard will immediately be one of the most exciting players on the team and has the sort of tenacity on the court that Sixers fans will love.
Even lower on the roster are young pieces like Justin Edwards, a hometown product with a nice story, and a deeply likable energy big in Adem Bona, both players with developmental arcs that should be pretty fascinating to monitor over the next few years. There is Johni Broome, one of the most accomplished collegiate basketball players of the decade with an unorthodox style. How will his game translate to the NBA? What position will he even play?
MORE: Edgecombe talks offseason work, season ahead with PhillyVoice
While nothing replaces genuine title contention, most teams that spend years trying and failing to win at the highest of levels and then watch their best player(s) deteriorate end up in no man's land. The Sixers' franchise is not in an optimal position right now, but Maxey, McCain and Edgecombe headline an improving young core that gives the team a good starting point in an eventual post-Embiid world. Focusing on how those players grow in the years to come should provide some enjoyment.
*From @lukelesher.bsky.social:*What are the chances of Dominick Barlow or Jabari Walker playing themselves into a standard contract with this team’s potential need at power forward?
In last week's edition of 5 Sixers thoughts, I went extremely long – frighteningly long, depending on your perspective – analyzing the Sixers' crop of two-way talent this year. Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow are two of the more experienced and accomplished players in the entire NBA on two-way contracts, while undrafted rookie Hunter Sallis has a longer path ahead of him.
Part of the Sixers' sell to two-way players, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey said in July in Las Vegas, is the team's history of signing players who eventually climb the ladder to earn standard deals, whether it happens in Philadelphia or elsewhere.
"We do [mention that], because we’ve had a good history of guys coming in, showing what they can do, get converted and then either with us or other teams, go on to do really well in the league," Morey said. "So yeah, that’s an important piece for us when we’re pitching two-ways is it’s part of a bigger picture that we think you can be a part of long-term."
That is clearly the case for Walker and Barlow, both of whom will enter training camp in a few weeks with a chance to make a real impression as the Sixers try to piece together a power forward rotation on the fly.
George should spend the most time at the four if he is healthy. He is already injured, though, and the Sixers will need other players to step up in that spot regardless. Edwards could be a small-ball option. The leader in the clubhouse as far as true power forwards go will be Trendon Watford, signed to a two-year standard deal. Watford would not be available at a minimum salary if he was a perfect player, but his unique passing and playmaking chops at 6-foot-9 will add a new element to Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's offense:
What are the chances that one of Walker and Barlow ends up earning a conversion to a standard deal by proving to be a viable – or even necessary – rotation piece? Not insignificant at all.
I believe Walker has a much better chance of sticking as a long-term piece with the Sixers; he has more NBA-caliber skills and abilities. His rebounding is excellent and if his leap as a three-point shooter last season proves to be more than small-sample variance, Walker profiles as a quality frontcourt rotation piece.
It should be noted, however, that if the Sixers view the 6-foot-9 Barlow as a viable center, he would then be able to slot in at both big spots if the Sixers need it. Given Embiid's constant injury issues, Barlow being trusted at the five would give him a massive advantage in the hunt for playing time.
MORE: Deep dive on Sixers' two-way group
*From @RiveraJess76505:*Could you go over the Sixers' salary cap situation if they were to trade one or both of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond without taking any salary back in an attempt to make a bigger contract offer to Quentin Grimes?
The Sixers have Full Bird rights on Grimes, whose restricted free agency continues to drag on. That means there is no amount of money they cannot offer him, as the team has not incurred any hard caps. Of course, the Sixers are not willing to cut a blank check for Grimes; if they were he would not still be on the open market. There are limits to what the Sixers should feel comfortable paying Grimes despite his youth and productivity.
The NBA's punitive second apron serves as a checkpoint of sorts; it is difficult to imagine any team ever surpassing that threshold without being surefire championship contenders. The Sixers are certainly not that.
So, if the Sixers felt the need to create more room below the second apron to sign Grimes, that is where Oubre and Drummond come into play. Both of their expiring salaries could theoretically be dumped to create more room. It is worth noting that if the Sixers traded either Oubre or Drummond they would need to replace that player to get to the minimum 14 players on their standard roster – and if they traded both, they would need two replacement roster occupants.
Drummond makes $5 million on the dot next season; trading him for no returning salary and then replacing him with a veteran's minimum deal would save the Sixers about $2.7 million. Oubre will make just under $8.4 million; trading him for no returning salary and finding a minimum player to fill his spot would save the Sixers just over $6 million.
But, as is, the Sixers are $21.6 million below the second apron with Oubre and Drummond both on roster, according to Yossi Gozlan's projections at capsheets.com. Grimes is more than two months into restricted free agency with no palpable interest from other teams. The only team with cap space right now is the Brooklyn Nets; they can get up to $24 million or so if they waive four players on non-guaranteed deals. But months have gone by with zero indications that Brooklyn has interest in Grimes.
In short: if Grimes had a robust market and was going to make $25 million annually, the Sixers would have to do some work to retain him without clearing the second apron, and dumping Oubre and/or Drummond would become the obvious play. But at this juncture, it is hard to imagine it becoming necessary for the team to move either player to facilitate a Grimes deal. That is good news, as both players could prove to have useful medium-sized expiring contracts around the trade deadline.
MORE: Which Sixers are most likely to be traded?
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