Tag: how

2024 NBA free agency: How the Sixers should exploit KJ Martin’s cheap cap hold after landing Paul George nba,free,agency,how,the,sixers,should,exploit,kj,martin,s,cheap,cap,hold,after,landing,paul,george,liberty,ballers,front-page,76ers-analysis,76ers-free-agency-rumors-news

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The Sixers made their big free-agent splash overnight Monday, agreeing with Paul George on a four-year, $211.6 million maximum contract. They’ve also agreed to re-sign Kelly Oubre Jr. (two years, $16.3 million), Andre Drummond (two years, “$10-plus million”) and Eric Gordon (one year, $3.3 million veteran minimum), which means they’ve already burned through most of their spending power this offseason.

From here, the Sixers must get creative to round out their roster. KJ Martin might be their best lottery ticket in that regard.

Martin is an unrestricted free agent, but he has a tiny $2.1 million cap hold, and the Sixers have his full Bird rights. They’d slightly cut into their cap space if they kept him on their books instead of an incomplete roster charge ($1.15 million), but having Bird rights on him allows them to re-sign him to anything up to his max salary.

The Sixers could take advantage of that cheap cap hold to both their own benefit and Martin’s. They could keep it on their books, spend the rest of their cap space and then overpay him on a two-year contract with a non-guaranteed second season. They could later look to flip him as salary filler in a midseason trade.

The Indiana Pacers gave Bruce Brown a two-year, $45 million contract last offseason, only to ship him to the Toronto Raptors six months later in the package for Pascal Siakam. The Sixers were reportedly open to emulating that strategy with Klay Thompson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this offseason if they struck out on George, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

Martin could enable them to do a miniature version of it.

If the Sixers had a specific midseason target in mind, they could do an exact dollar-for-dollar match on Martin’s new contract. That would enable both the Sixers and the other team to trade those contracts in a straight one-for-one deal and not trigger a hard cap. If they were instead just looking to add a tradable contract to their books, they could use the dollar amount of the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.168 million), room MLE ($7.983 million) or non-taxpayer MLE ($12.822 million) as options.

The Sixers could try to sign-and-trade Martin if they’re looking to fill that void more quickly, although as cap specialist Yossi Gozlan noted, Base Year Compensation rules would complicate that. Only 50 percent of Martin’s new contract would count as outgoing salary, which would make it more difficult for the Sixers or whichever team trades for him to avoid triggering a hard cap at the first apron. They’d be better off signing Martin to a balloon deal and preserving his contract for a midseason trade.

The only downside to this strategy is if the Sixers plan to hard-cap themselves at either apron with another move. They won’t be adding unnecessary salary to their books in that case. Otherwise, there’s no reason not to do this. They’re going to be over the luxury-tax threshold when they fill out their roster either way, so they might as well go deeper into it to increase their midseason flexibility.

Without Martin factored in, the Sixers can still create roughly $9.2 million in remaining cap space even if they keep Ricky Council IV ($1.9 million) but waive Paul Reed’s $7.7 million non-guaranteed contract. If they keep Martin’s cap hold as well, they could still have around $8.3 million in cap space. Based on the prices for Derrick Jones Jr. (three years, $30 million), Naji Marshall (three years, $27 million) Goga Bitadze (three years, $25 million) and Gary Harris (two years, $14 million), that should be able to net them at least one more solid player.

Once the Sixers used the rest of their cap space, they’d use a minimum exception to sign Gordon, officially sign Tyrese Maxey to his five-year, $203.9 million extension (without a player option!) and presumably use the $8.0 million room mid-level exception to sign Oubre. That means George and Drummond are the only two who are going into the Sixers’ cap space.

The Sixers could also take advantage of expanded salary-matching rules and look to flip Reed’s contract for a more expensive salary—they can take back up to $7.5 million more than they send out as long as they stay below the first apron. Staying below the first apron might be a challenge once they finalize Maxey’s new max deal, though. (Keep that in mind regarding any Dorian Finney-Smith trades you cook up over the coming days.)

They’d be better off spending the remainder of their cap space and then signing Martin to a 1+1 balloon deal with the intention of potentially moving him at the trade deadline. Signing him to such a deal would give the Sixers a way to upgrade midseason that they otherwise wouldn’t have. Again, the only risk here is if they hard-cap themselves some other way.

If not, the Sixers owners should be willing to foot a larger tax bill to improve their new Big Three’s chances of winning a championship. There are no more half-measures after signing George. The Sixers are all-in on winning now.

With some creativity, Martin—and his next contract—could help them do just that.

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.

How the Sixers could get creative with Paul Reed’s contract this offseason how,the,sixers,could,get,creative,with,paul,reed,s,contract,this,offseason,liberty,ballers,front-page,76ers-analysis

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Because the Sixers didn’t win a playoff series this year, Paul Reed’s future is now up in the air.

The offer sheet that Reed signed with the Utah Jazz last offseason stipulated that his $7.7 million salary for the 2024-25 season would only become guaranteed if his team advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Instead, the New York Knicks and Joel Embiid’s case of Bell’s palsy helped ensure Reed’s contract would remain non-guaranteed through Jan. 10.

The Sixers could waive Reed this offseason and be left without a dead cap hit, which they’d likely consider if they land a third max-contract player. Cutting him would be their path to still having meaningful cap space, along with the $8.0 million room mid-level exception once they were capped out. But they don’t have a nearby deadline by which they have to make a decision. They can see how the offseason plays out and proceed accordingly.

Since Reed’s full contract is non-guaranteed, he’d count as $0 in outgoing salary in trades unless the Sixers guaranteed some or all of his deal. But as long as they stay under the salary cap after a trade, they don’t need to worry about salary-matching rules. If anything, they could leave him non-guaranteed to sweeten a trade offer, allowing his next team to decide whether to keep him as depth, re-route him or waive him for cap relief.

The Sixers could also manipulate their offseason order of operations to take advantage of Reed’s contract in a creative way. If they keep him on their books and guarantee his full salary, they could flip him to acquire a much higher-paid player even if they’re over the cap at the time.

Under the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, trades involving two teams below either apron have looser salary-matching rules than they once did. Teams that send between $7.25 million and $29 million in salary can take that amount of salary back plus $7.5 million. In other words, a team could trade a $7.5 million contract for a $15 million contract, or a $29 million contract for a $36.5 million contract.

With Reed set to earn $7.7 million next season, the Sixers could flip him for a player earning as much as $15.2 million as long as they stay below the first apron after the trade. They would then be hard-capped at the first apron for the remainder of the league year. Depending on how the rest of their offseason shakes out, that could be their best chance to round out their roster and add more depth.

For instance, let’s say they sign Paul George for his full max salary of $49.4 million. They could have as much as $16.7 million in cap space if they waive Reed and Ricky Council IV, trade the No. 16 overall pick, turn down their team option on Jeff Dowtin Jr. and renounce the rights to all of their free agents. They’ll likely wind up having less than that because they keep Reed, don’t trade the pick or re-sign some of their own players.

The Sixers could still have as much as $10.2 million in cap space along with the $8.0 million room MLE with a George max deal, Reed and Joel Embiid’s contracts and Tyrese Maxey’s cap hold on their books. Once they spent that cap space, they could flip Reed for a higher-paid player to upgrade that spot without having the cap space to fill it otherwise. They’d effectively be turning $7.7 million of cap space into $15.2 million, except they could only spend that on trades.

The Sixers would still be slightly out of range salary-wise on Lu Dort ($16.5 million), Deni Avdjia ($15.6 million) and P.J. Washington ($15.5 million) on the off-chance that any of them became available this offseason. However, they could squeeze Dorian Finney-Smith ($14.9 million), Luke Kennard ($14.8 million team option) or Naz Reid ($14.0 million) in with the salary-matching buffer on Reed’s contract. Larry Nance Jr. ($11.2 million), Gabe Vincent ($11.0 million) and Maxi Kleber ($11.0 million) could be slightly less expensive options.

In some respects, the Jazz did the Sixers a favor in the way they structured Reed’s contract. If he had a team or player option instead of a non-guaranteed salary, he’d have his contractual fate determined by late June either way. Instead, the Sixers can keep him on their books heading into July and pivot as needed from there.

If the Sixers land a third max-contract star, it wouldn’t be surprising if they just waive Reed outright. If they snag someone on a slightly smaller deal—Brandon Ingram, Donovan Mitchell or Mikal Bridges, for instance—they might have enough cap space to round out their roster even with Reed’s contract still on their books. From there, they could evaluate their options at backup center without him and explore the trade market for him as well.

There’s no guarantee that the Sixers will waive Reed right as the offseason begins, though. In fact, it would behoove them to maintain their optionality with his contract for as long as possible, unless they needed his $7.7 million of cap space to sign a free agent.

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.