Not much has gone right for the Philadelphia 76ers this season. Their Big Three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George were besieged by injuries, which limited them to only 294 minutes together all year. A season that began with championship expectations will finish in the draft lottery.
Although this season will go down as an unequivocal disappointment for the Sixers, there have been a few silver linings. First-year guard Jared McCain established himself as the early front-runner for Rookie of the Year before suffering a meniscus tear in December. Guerschon Yabusele proved to be a steal—perhaps too much of one, in fact—on the one-year, minimum-salary contract that he signed after the 2024 Olympics.
The biggest development might have been what the Sixers did at the trade deadline, though. They made a pivot toward youth and traded veteran forward Caleb Martin and a 2030 second-round pick for fourth-year guard Quentin Grimes and their own 2025 second-round pick back. That move flew under the radar relative to the other big blockbuster that the Dallas Mavericks swung ahead of the deadline, but it proved to be similarly ill-advised.
Grimes opened eyes by erupting for 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting, nine rebounds and four assists in a mid-February loss to the Brooklyn Nets, but he's gone full supernova since the calendar flipped to March. Over his first 13 games of the month, he averaged 27.5 points, 5.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 made three-pointers and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 50.8% overall and 40.2% from deep.
Grimes is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason, so the Sixers will have the right to match any offer sheet he signs with another team. Fortunately for them, the Brooklyn Nets are the only team projected to have significant cap space, and they might not be interested in splurging on a free agent. With that said, sign-and-trades could open additional free-agent options for Grimes.
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It would only take one team to ruin the Sixers' best-laid plans this offseason. Their ability to re-sign Grimes—and how much it costs them to do so—will have major team-building implications for them moving forward.
The Financial Breakdown
The Sixers have full Bird rights on Grimes, so they can give him anything up to a max contract even though they'll be over the salary cap next season. But despite his late-season breakout, Grimes shouldn't expect the Sixers to hand him a blank check this summer.
He can thank the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement for that.
The Sixers already have more than $149 million tied up next season in Embiid, George, Maxey and McCain. The salary cap is projected to be $154.6 million, so they’re going to soar over that line once they fill out their roster. The bigger issues are the luxury-tax threshold ($187.9 million), the first apron ($195.9 million) and the second apron ($207.8) million.
If the Sixers cross the first apron, they won't have access to the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, can't take back more salary in a trade than they send out and can't acquire a player via sign-and-trade. If they cross the second apron, they won't even have access to the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, and they won't be allowed to aggregate two contracts in a trade to acquire a larger salary.
Although the Sixers are allowed to give Grimes more than $35 million as the starting salary of a new extension, doing so would push them into apron territory. Anything close to a max contract is likely a non-starter for that reason. They also have the futures of Yabusele and Kelly Oubre Jr. to juggle this offseason, assuming Oubre declines his $8.4 million player option to become an unrestricted free agent. The less that the Sixers spend to re-sign Grimes, the more financial wiggle room they'll have under the second apron to keep both Yabusele (perhaps via the taxpayer MLE) and Oubre (via his Early Bird rights) if so desired.
The salary-cap math will get even tighter for the Sixers if they keep their first-round pick this year. (They owe it to the Oklahoma City Thunder if it falls outside the top six.) Depending on where it lands, it would carry a cap hit between roughly $8-13 million, which could make it that much more difficult for the Sixers to keep all three of Grimes, Yabusele and Oubre.
The On-Court Impact
As the Sixers prepare for the offseason, they'll have to figure out how to prioritize their own free agents. Grimes figures to be their top priority to retain based on what he's shown over the past few weeks, ahead of both Oubre and Yabusele.
Going into the 2025-26 season with Maxey, McCain and Grimes all locked up on long-term contracts could help the Sixers reinvent their on-court identity. They've been centered around Embiid for the past decade, but the uncertainty surrounding his left knee may make them rethink that approach moving forward.
If the Sixers lean more heavily on their backcourt as their primary offensive engine, that would reduce some of the scoring burden on Embiid and George. That could free both up to focus more on being the team's defensive anchors and complementary options on offense. It might also help limit some of the wear-and-tear on them as they navigate the 82-game marathon of the NBA's regular season.
Maxey is the most established of the Sixers' backcourt options, although the 24-year-old is still by no means a finished product. Grimes, who turns 25 in May, also showed over the past month that he has untapped upside. And McCain, who just turned 21 in February, hinted at star upside early in his rookie season before his knee injury.
Maxey and McCain are both listed at 6'2", which could create "defensive challenges," as team president Daryl Morey acknowledged after the trade deadline. However, he expressed confidence in Grimes' ability to "take the primary guard matchup" on defense alongside either Maxey or McCain. The three might not be fully interchangeable, but the Sixers would be wise to experiment with different combinations of them, including three-guard lineups featuring all three at times.
Aside from James Harden, the Sixers have largely lacked elite guard play throughout the Embiid era. Thanks in part to Grimes' late-season breakout, that's no longer an issue. If they're able to re-sign him this summer, it could lead to them reinventing their on-court identity. The cost of retaining him could create other team-building challenges, though, particularly regarding their ability to keep Yabusele as well.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats viaNBA.com,PBPStats,Cleaning the Glass orBasketball Reference. All salary information viaSpotrac and salary-cap information viaRealGM. All odds viaFanDuel Sportsbook.
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