The race to fill the Sixers’ last standard roster spot has already begun.
On Friday, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that Kevin Love’s agent had already “been in touch” with the Sixers after LeBron James decided to sign with them. Love “has interest in pairing with James to pursue a championship,” according to McMenamin, who noted that he and James “have remained close since teaming up for four seasons with the Cavaliers.”
Philadelphia native Markieff Morris, who won a championship with LeBron on the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019-20, also made his case for that spot.
And Ben Simmons, who is “eyeing a comeback to basketball” after taking last season off, according to ESPN’s Olgun Uluc, also floated a return to Philly as a possibility earlier this offseason, albeit prior to the LeBron and Jaylen Brown acquisitions. According to Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s Andscape, “a coach who worked out Simmons recently said he has regained his athleticism” after chronic back injuries left him looking like a shell of his former All-Star self.
Even if the Sixers wanted to sign Love, Morris, Simmons or another established NBA veteran to fill their final open roster spot this offseason, they couldn’t do so without making another move first. They’re hard-capped at the $209.0 million first apron, and they already have nearly $207.2 million in salary on their books, which leaves them only $1.8 million below the hard cap. A veteran-minimum contract for anyone with two or more years of NBA experience comes with a cap hit of $2.4 million.
Once the regular season begins, though, minimum contracts will begin to prorate downward daily by roughly $14,000. By early December, the Sixers should have enough space under the hard cap to fill that final roster spot with a fresh min deal.
They should be in no rush to fill it, though. They need to spend the first few months of the season figuring out how their new-look roster meshes and identifying their weak points before looking to make any other moves.
Ring-chasers will come flocking
During his introductory press conference last week, Brown was quick to praise the work that new team president Mike Gansey and the Sixers front office did this offseason. However, he noted that talent alone won’t be enough to get the Sixers to snap their 43-year championship drought.
“Obviously, on paper, we’re excellent,” Brown said. “We have a lot of talent compared to other teams in the league. But I’ve been around a long time, long enough to know that just what you have on paper don’t really mean nothing. It can, if you put the work in. But it also, if you allow distractions, if you allow the media to get into your locker room, if you allow certain things and personalities don’t work, it can be a detriment. So, I’m aware that it could go either way.”
Gansey isn’t shying away from that, either.
“We’ve gotta get to camp,” he said during a recent appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic’s Midday With Marks. “We haven’t even had a practice or played a game. So we’ve gotta see if this thing works, obviously. I like the pieces and the talent we have, but we’ve gotta get to a practice first to see how this works.”
On paper—and in NBA2K—the Sixers look like a superteam in the making. That’s easy to say in August, though. Reality will hit them at some point throughout the grind of the 82-game regular season.
First, the Sixers need to figure out how their new-look starting five meshes and which combinations of players work best together. They made significant upgrades this offseason, but they still lost four of their top eight players in terms of minutes per game from last year (Kelly Oubre Jr., Paul George, Quentin Grimes and Andre Drummond). Head coach Nick Nurse will have his work cut out for him, especially early in the season.
As the season progresses, the Sixers will get a better sense of their remaining weak spots and how they might be able to patch those up. For now, it’s all a hypothetical exercise.
Injuries could also force their hand. If Joel Embiid goes down with a long-term injury, are Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti enough to hold down the fort? Can they get away with playing Dominick Barlow at the 5 occasionally? If not, they might have to prioritize filling that final open roster spot with another big man.
Once the Sixers identify their biggest weaknesses, they can set about filling them. But since they’re under the first apron and cannot go over it this season, they also have a potential advantage over other potential title contenders.
Teams above the first apron can’t sign players on the buyout market if they were previously earning more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Teams below the first apron face no such restriction. It’s unclear who might get bought out after this year’s trade deadline—no, that is not likely to include Jrue Holiday—but one look at the list of potential 2027 free agents could provide some hints.
If the Sacramento Kings don’t find a taker for Zach LaVine by the trade deadline, he seems like a virtual lock to get bought out. Might the Milwaukee Bucks do the same with Kyle Kuzma and/or Caris LeVert? Could Klay Thompson shake loose from the Dallas Mavericks? Would any of them be upgrades over Love, Morris, Simmons or another free agent who’s currently on the market?
The Sixers don’t have to decide that right now. As long as their season isn’t off the rails by February, they figure to be a highly sought-after destination for ring-chasers. In fact, it wouldn’t be shocking if they looked to open another roster spot to create space for two midseason additions.
So, while veterans may already be lining up to throw their hat in the ring for the Sixers’ final open roster spot, the hard cap will prevent them from making a move for now. Once mid-February rolls around and the dust begins to settle from the trade deadline, that’s when the Sixers will likely look to fill out their final open roster spot.
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.
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