PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – MARCH 27: Paul George #13 of the LA Clippers is guarded by Paul Reed … [+]
The Philadelphia 76ers wasted no time making use of their $60-plus million of salary-cap space once NBA free agency began at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday.
First, they agreed to a two-year, $10-plus million deal with center Andre Drummond, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. They also landed shooting guard Eric Gordon on a one-year, veteran-minimum contract, per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports, and brought back Kelly Oubre Jr. on a two-year, $16.3 million deal, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Then, at 3:30 a.m. ET, the biggest domino of free agency fell.
Thanks to those moves, the Sixers now have the third-best odds (+850) of any team to win the 2024-25 NBA championship, trailing only the reigning champion Boston Celtics (+300) and the 2022-23 champion Denver Nuggets (+750), per FanDuel Sportsbook.
The Sixers aren’t done yet, though. Depending on how they structure their moves—namely whether they use the $8.0 million room mid-level exception to sign Oubre or fit him into their remaining cap space—they still could have up to $9.2 million in spending power even if they keep Ricky Council IV ($1.9 million) on their books. To reach that amount, they’d have to waive the non-guaranteed contract of Paul Reed ($7.7 million) and renounce the rights to all of their remaining free agents other than Tyrese Maxey.
Maxey’s cap hold is the key to the Sixers’ entire offseason. Because he held off on signing an extension last summer, he only counts as $13.0 million against the Sixers’ books until he inks his new deal. He agreed to a five-year, $203.9 million max deal with a $35.1 million starting salary on Monday, per Wojnarowski, so he effectively gave the Sixers an extra $22 million to spend that they wouldn’t have had if he signed an extension last year.
Once the Sixers spend the remainder of their cap space, they’ll still be able to offer minimum-salary contracts to any free agent. They can only hope that the allure of playing alongside George, Maxey and Joel Embiid will help attract a few veteran ring-chasers, particularly with swingman Nicolas Batum reportedly not returning to Philadelphia.
As the Sixers now look to round out the rest of their roster, they’ll need to be mindful of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, which is effectively why they were able to land George in the first place. Certain roster-building moves trigger hard caps at the first apron ($178.1 million) or second apron ($188.9 million), and the Sixers project to be dangerously close to the first apron once they sign Maxey to his max deal.
With eight players on their books (Embiid, George, Maxey, Drummond, Gordon, Oubre, Council and rookie guard Jared McCain), the Sixers currently project to be only $16.9 million below the first apron. If they keep Reed, they’d be only $10.3 million below. They’d barely have enough room under the first apron to round out their roster with six minimum contracts ($2.1 million each).
Teams get hard-capped at the first apron if they acquire a player via sign-and-trade or take back more salary in a trade than they send out. Doing either of those things would greatly reduce the Sixers’ flexibility to fill out their remaining roster spots or make midseason changes ahead of the February trade deadline.
There’s still plenty for the Sixers to sort out in the coming hours or days, but they now have a championship-caliber foundation in place. This was the culmination of a yearlong plan to maximize their financial flexibility once James Harden picked up his player option and requested a trade last offseason.
“What we’re attempting to do is have the best team possible this year, but also have the ability that, if we get into a next-season situation, to be a very unique team with the most cap room of a team that’s as good as us,” team president Daryl Morey told Anthony Gargano, then of 97.5 The Fanatic, last July. “That’s a very unique situation to have.”
At the time, Morey specifically mentioned how the league’s new CBA would put “massive constraints downward on salaries in the league,” which would put the Sixers in a “very unique situation” since they were “the only team with a top player that a player can join.”
The Sixers weren’t subtle about wanting to add a top-tier wing in particular. At his end-of-season press conference, Morey predicted the Sixers would have “a lot of change” this offseason and heavily hinted that the Sixers were going star-hunting this offseason.
George fits that description to a T. Although he’s coming off a disappointing playoff showing this past season, he averaged 26.9 points on 44.1% shooting, 9.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game during the Clippers’ run to the Western Conference Finals in 2020-21. He also helped guide the Indiana Pacers to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances in the early 2010s.
In Philadelphia, George can slide in as a No. 3 option behind Embiid and Maxey, where his shooting prowess should make him a perfect on-court fit. He shot 39.7% from deep on nearly eight three-point attempts per game during his five years with the Clippers and is particularly potent on catch-and-shoot attempts. He drilled 45.4% of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers this past season and has been above 40% on such looks in four of the past five years.
George, a four-time member of the NBA’s All-Defense team, also still routinely grades out as a plus defender. Thanks to his two-way impact, he was tied with Clippers teammate Kawhi Leonard for the eighth-best estimated plus/minus in the league last season, according to Dunks and Threes.
George’s contract is not without risk. He’ll have a $56.6 million player option for his age-37 season in 2027-28, which could come back to bite the Sixers. But under the new CBA, title windows might become even shorter than they were before, and the Sixers are title building around an oft-injured 30-year-old star center. Their time is now.
And the Sixers now have their new Big Three in place.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.