How should the Philadelphia 76ers solve their roster crunch?
Which players will the Philadelphia 76ers part ways with to get their roster down to 15 by the end of the preseason?
The Philadelphia 76ers are facing a roster crunch in the coming months, although Nemanja Bjelica’s unexpected about-face may have spared them from one particularly difficult decision.
After re-signing J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson and trading for Wilson Chandler, the Sixers will have 16 players under contract heading into training camp. If 2017 second-round pick Jonah Bolden also joins the roster as expected, that’ll leave Philadelphia two players above the 15-player limit for the regular season.
The Sixers will have until the final day before the regular season to trim their roster down to 15 players, so they can use training camp and the preseason to help inform those decisions. They could always pursue a consolidation trade, too — say, for Kawhi Leonard? — as a two- or three-for-one deal would help them kill two birds with one stone.
Who might be on the Sixers’ chopping block in the coming months? Let’s break down their options.
Not going anywhere
Unless they’re presented with a godfather offer, the Sixers aren’t dealing Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons. Those two are the franchise cornerstones around whom Philadelphia will build its entire roster moving forward. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the Sixers would trade either player, as their combination of youth, upside and years of remaining team control make them two of the most valuable assets in the NBA.
J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson are also safe for the time being, albeit for an entirely different reason. Teams can’t trade players who they sign in free agency until Dec. 15, so Redick and Johnson can’t be used in a deal for Leonard or anyone else for the time being. Neither of them necessarily profile as long-term fixtures in Philadelphia — certainly not to the extent that Simmons or Embiid are — but the collective bargaining agreement will keep them on the roster regardless.
Likely safe
Unless the Spurs relent and agree to trade Leonard, Dario Saric and Robert Covington likely aren’t going anywhere, either.
According to Jake Fischer of Sports Illustrated, the Spurs have “strong interest in a package” involving Saric and Covington, but “Philly has expressed how highly it values” the pair of forwards in trade negotiations over the past few weeks. The Sixers reportedly “rebuffed trade offers for Saric and Covington during an attempt to move into the top five selections of the 2018 draft,” Fischer reported, which suggests they won’t be parting ways with either player unless they receive a star in return.
As the Sixers negotiate a potential deal with the Spurs for Leonard, Simmons, Embiid and Markelle Fultz have all been deemed off-limits, according to ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Fultz’s rookie season didn’t go as planned, to say the least, but he’s been working with renowned trainer Drew Hanlen this summer to recapture the shooting form that helped to make him the No. 1 overall pick in 2017. If the Sixers believe in the process he’s making — and by all accounts, they do — selling low on him now wouldn’t make much sense.
Since Philadelphia absorbed Wilson Chandler into its cap space, he’s eligible to be traded immediately, which makes him potential salary-matching trade bait to dangle. Otherwise, with him entering the final season of his four-year, $46.5 million contract, the Sixers may decide to keep Chandler to help free up nearly $13 million more in salary-cap space for 2019.
T.J. McConnell’s $1.6 million salary for this season won’t be fully guaranteed until Jan. 10, and he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. If the Sixers get gun-shy about their chances of retaining him beyond this year, they could dangle him on the trade market, but they may need to see how Fultz fares as the backup point guard first. For a team so enthusiastic about its culture, losing McConnell would be an undeniable blow, which likely makes his roster spot safe for the time being.
The Sixers’ pair of first-round picks, Zhaire Smith and Landry Shamet, aren’t eligible to be traded for 30 days after signing their rookie contracts, which means both can’t go anywhere until early August. Philadelphia could dangle one or both of them in trade discussions after that point, but otherwise, they should be safely penciled into roster spots. After all, it isn’t as though the Sixers couldn’t foresee this roster crunch on draft night. Their decision to eschew a draft-and-stash with one of those picks suggests they expect both to be on the roster this season.
The danger zone
Jerryd Bayless is the most obvious candidate for the Sixers to part ways with, whether via a buyout, a trade or waiving him outright. Both Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports and Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported earlier this month that Philly was considering a buyout, although it’s unclear how much (if anything?) Bayless would be willing to sacrifice financially to negotiate his release.
The Sixers have no reason to waive and stretch Bayless now that LeBron James spurned them, as it’s far more preferable to get his full salary off their books after 2018-19. It may be difficult to trade him, too, as the Sacramento Kings are the only team left with enough cap space to absorb him without sending salary back in return. If they do attempt to trade him, they could package future draft considerations — they have approximately 150,329,587 second-round picks — and/or young prospects to grease the wheels on a deal.
Richaun Holmes is perhaps the next-most likely casualty, as his $1.6 million salary for this season doesn’t become fully guaranteed until Jan. 10. If Bolden does come over, he figures to replace Holmes as the third-string center behind Embiid and Johnson, thus making the Bowling Green product expendable. The Sixers may not be able to get much more than a second-round pick for Holmes — if that, even — but his getting buried behind Johnson in the rotation last season didn’t bode well for his long-term future in Philadelphia.
If Bolden doesn’t join the Sixers this season, they could waive and/or trade Bayless to get down to the 15-player limit. If Bolden does come over and the Sixers hang on to Holmes as well, their final cut will be between three players: Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Furkan Korkmaz and Justin Anderson. Of the three, Luwawu-Cabarrot should feel least secure about his roster spot.
Right knee tendinitis sidelined TLC for the final month of the 2017-18 regular season and the Sixers’ entire playoff run, but his role had already disappeared upon the arrival of Marco Belinelli prior to the All-Star break. After playing well in a handful of spot starts for an injured Redick in late January, Luwawu-Cabarrot returned to the bench and was effectively never heard from again, as he managed only 1.7 points on 22.7 percent shooting over his final nine appearances last season.
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Korkmaz’s 3-point shooting ability should help him secure a roster spot, even if he isn’t consistent enough for the Sixers to rely on as a regular rotation player as of yet. Anderson, meanwhile, has a far more filled-out frame, which gives him higher defensive upside at the moment. Philly isn’t likely to rely heavily upon any of these guys, but Luwawu-Cabarrot may be the odd man out since he lacks a signature skill.
Bayless and Holmes are all but certain to find their way out of Philadelphia between now and mid-October. Beyond that, Luwawu-Cabarrot or Anderson figure to be the most in danger if the Sixers decide to spend their room mid-level exception on anyone else.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Basketball Insiders.