The Philadelphia 76ers have thrown caution to the wind by securing Paul George on a four-year, $211.6 million mega-deal. Not stopping there, they’ve added Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Kelly Oubre Jr., while also locking in Tyrese Maxey with a five-year, $203.9 million extension. This frenzy has seen them go from potential big spenders to a tightrope walk on the salary cap wire, embodying Daryl Morey’s Dilemma as they juggle star power with financial constraints.
Daryl Morey’s Dilemma: Balancing Big Names and Budget Constraints
Despite having the potential to clear over $60 million in cap space, George’s contract gobbles up a hefty chunk. Post-signing George and Drummond, the Sixers could be left with a mere $8.9 million in cap space, contingent on using the $8.0 million room mid-level exception for Oubre. Gordon’s minimum-salary deal gives them some breathing room, but the clock is ticking.
The Sixers’ spending spree edges them dangerously close to the NBA’s $178.1 million first apron. Every move from here on out needs surgical precision to avoid a hard cap, a line that, once crossed, shackles their flexibility through next June.
The hard cap horror stems from taking back more salary in trades, acquiring players via sign-and-trade, or signing buyout market players earning more than the mid-level exception. While some of these scenarios are midseason nightmares, the current concern is their immediate impact on the Sixers’ maneuverability.
If the Sixers splurge their remaining cap on a single player, sign second-round pick Adem Bona, and fill the rest with minimum deals, they’ll hover $700,000 below the first apron, and $11.5 million below the second apron. Yet, any trade bringing in more salary than they send out slams them into the hard cap wall, making blockbuster trades for players like Paul Reed untenable.
Intriguingly, the Sixers have shown “exploratory interest” in Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith. With Finney-Smith earning $14.9 million, the Sixers must shed equivalent salaries to dodge the first apron. This is where it gets juicy: offering Reed and KJ Martin (via sign-and-trade) still leaves them perilously close to the apron, with scant room for filling roster spots.
The season’s start doesn’t dissolve these dilemmas. Any pre-deadline trades risking the first apron must be handled with kid gloves. Aggregating contracts for bigger deals threatens a second apron hard cap, adding another layer of intrigue to the Sixers’ roster-building drama.
The key might be Martin. His $2.1 million salary-cap hold, paired with full Bird rights, allows the Sixers to ink him to a significant deal without immediate hard cap fears. Flipping Martin for Finney-Smith mid-season could bypass the first apron hard cap, a clever chess move by Daryl Morey.
If the Finney-Smith pursuit fizzles, other targets include Minnesota’s Naz Reid, Charlotte’s Grant Williams, or New Orleans’ Herb Jones. Morey, ever the strategist, values playoff readiness over off-season appearances. In this high-stakes game, avoiding the first apron hard cap is crucial, preserving flexibility for potential midseason reinforcements.
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