After Wednesday’s riveting loss to the Washington Wizards — and the Toronto Raptors’ blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets — the Sixers’ offseason picture is coming more into focus.
The Raptors are now three wins up on the Nets and Sixers with only nine games to go. The Sixers have the inside track for either the fifth- or sixth-worst record in the league, although there’s still no guarantee that they’ll keep their first-round pick, which conveys to the Oklahoma City Thunder if it falls outside of the top six.
That’s a problem for a later day. Today, we’re here to answer some other offseason-related questions on the minds of Sixers fans.
We asked you yesterday to fire away with your top queries, and you once again delivered. So, let’s start by looking at some of the Sixers’ external free-agent options.
Great set of questions here! I’ll address them in order.
For low-key free agents, Jake LaRavia, Dante Exum, Amir Coffey, Larry Nance Jr. and Steven Adams all come to mind. LaRavia would be the floor-stretching 4 that this year’s Sixers never quite had. Exum never lived up to his draft-day hype, but he’s quietly carved out a career as a defensive-minded backup guard with secondary creation chops. Coffey is averaging a career-high 10.0 points in 25.0 minutes per game this season with the Los Angeles Clippers while shooting 41.0 percent from deep, yet he just got a DNP-CD on Wednesday. Adams could give the Sixers a burly backup big behind Joel Embiid if Andre Drummond isn’t back next year. And much like Guerschon Yabusele was this year, Nance would be a hybrid 4/5 who could play either alongside Embiid or as a small-ball center behind him.
I’m skeptical that the Sixers will have access to the $14.1 million non-taxpayer MLE this offseason, especially if they’re able to keep their first-round pick (which would carry a cap hit north of $8 million). I think it’s far more likely that they’ll wind up over the first apron and only have the $5.7 million taxpayer MLE. If that isn’t enough to retain Yabusele, I’d be open to using that on either LaRavia or Nance.
The good news is that they don’t have to use their MLE to re-sign Grimes. They have full Bird rights on him, so they’re allowed to re-sign him to anything up to a max contract even if they’re over the salary cap.
I saw some confusion in the replies here, so allow me to clear this up.
Yes, the Sixers are allowed to sign-and-trade Grimes this offseason. Whichever team acquired him via S&T would be hard-capped at the first apron, but the Sixers would not be hard-capped unless they also acquired a player via S&T in return. With that said, the hard cap would limit the number of teams that could realistically acquire Grimes via S&T. The Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic and New York Knicks are already projected to be over the first apron.
The Brooklyn Nets look like the only real threat to sign Grimes to a bloated offer sheet this offseason, so the Sixers could try to play hardball with him if the Nets turn their attention elsewhere. However, doing so could inspire Grimes to explore S&T options and try to force his way out of Philly. Barring a nine-figure offer sheet from the Nets, I’d expect Grimes to be back on the Sixers next season.
With that said, I agree with your premise about potential overlap with the top-six pick if the Sixers don’t win the lottery. I haven’t scouted the likes of Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey closely yet, but if the Sixers are committed to their win-now timeline, I’d at least be open to exploring all options with that pick, whether that means trading down or trading out entirely (for multiple future picks).
My first thought was Kevin Durant.
It’s hardly a secret that the Phoenix Suns explored their options with Durant at the trade deadline and will likely do so again this offseason. (Maybe Mat Ishbia accidentally added Brian Windhorst to his Signal chat?) The Suns are also woefully devoid of future draft capital after spending nearly all of it to acquire Durant and Bradley Beal over the past two years. Would they entertain a swap of Durant and Paul George if the Sixers were willing to include draft picks as well?
I can’t imagine the Sixers would even consider acquiring Beal unless they were also moving on from Embiid and embracing a full rebuild. One would think the Suns would need to include multiple first-round picks, too. But the playoffs could set the stage for other offseason shakeups. If teams with high expectations suffer first-round exits — here’s looking at you, Milwaukee Bucks — that could have a seismic impact on the league’s landscape.
Given Embiid’s uncertain prognosis, I would be extremely reluctant to trade any of the Sixers’ future first-round picks this offseason. So, any trade in which they give away a distant first-rounder would fit the bill as well. At least lottery-protect it this time, Daryl!
Convenient timing on this question! According to Nick Nurse, we’ll have an update “soon-ish.”
In Sixers parlance, that means there’s a 95 percent chance of us not hearing a single concrete detail until October.
I’d still put my money on Nick Nurse. They’re going to chalk this season up to bad injury luck, in part because they don’t have a better choice. If they tried to trade Embiid or George this offseason, they’d be selling at the nadir of their value.
So, I’m guessing they’ll sell fans on the value of continuity, although nearly everyone in the organization will enter next season on the hot seat.
Let’s wrap up with this question, since I imagine it’ll come up a lot this offseason.
From a financial perspective, the big concern with the run-it-back plan is whether the Sixers will be able to re-sign Yabusele. If he’s willing to re-sign for the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, they’d be hard-capped at the $207.8 million second apron. But if he wants more than that — even if it’s not the full $14.1 million non-taxpayer MLE — they’d be hard-capped at the $195.9 million first apron.
Embiid, George, Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain alone are set to make $149.1 million next season. Add Yabusele on the full NTMLE, and the Sixers would be at nearly $163.2 million with only five players under contract. It’d likely be impossible to re-sign both Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr. while staying under the first apron in that scenario.
If the Sixers are willing to let Yabusele walk, the team-building consequences for crossing the first or second apron are the only real restriction they face. They have Early Bird rights on Oubre and full Bird rights on Grimes, so they theoretically should be able to re-sign both. Whether they’re willing to swallow the luxury-tax and apron penalties for doing so is another story entirely, though.
Thanks again for the great questions this week! Keep them coming in the discussion thread below — I’ll keep an eye out for some to answer next Thursday. In the meantime, let’s all root for some Nets victories posthaste.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats viaNBA.com,PBPStats,Cleaning the Glass orBasketball Reference. All salary information viaSalary Swish and salary-cap information viaRealGM.
Follow Bryan onBluesky.