Tag: overall

In the wee hours of the night here on the East Coast, the Philadelphia 76ers were making it rain. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the bombshell scoop that Paul George is signing a four-year $212M deal, with a player option for the 2027-2028 season, with the Philadelphia 76ers. Not long after that we learned that All-Star Tyrese Maxey was receiving a max extension and the team was also retaining last season’s stellar minimum level acquisition wing Kelly Oubre, Jr. on a new team-friendly deal. Big Penguin Andre Drummond is back on board, and Morey lands another one of his favorite former Rockets in Eric Gordon too.

Having utilized cap space for the nine-time All-Star George, Philadelphia still has the No. 16 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, sniper Jared McCain, the No. 41 overall pick, Adem Bona, an absolute freak athlete which he proved at the NBA pre-draft combine, plus the 76ers still possess four more future first-round picks to work with, and swaps.

We owe so much of it to our beloved Tyrese:

Tobias Harris is finally gone, landing big money to play for the Detroit Pistons (addition by subtraction?)

And they’ll look to round out the rest of the roster with a bit of remaining cap space before exceeding the cap by fleshing out the rest of the roster with veteran’s minimum deals for ring-chasing stars who can expect a fair amount of playing time — on such a now top-heavy roster.

Per Woj:

“George and his agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA, met in Los Angeles with a 76ers contingent that included owner Josh Harris, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, general manager Elton Brand and Sixers legend Julius Erving, sources said. The Sixers even brought a front office executive, Peter Dinwiddie, who is a familiar face and friend of George’s from their years together with the Indiana Pacers, sources said.

The meeting came on the heels of months of unsuccessful negotiations between George and the LA Clippers on a deal to stay in his Southern California home.”

Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the gangs’ odds on Draft Kings were around +1000 back when we thought there was a chance they might sign George.

Then their odds dropped precipitously to +1400 when Shams Charania reported the Sixers’ interest in the six-time All-NBA teamer had “significantly waned.”

It also didn’t help the Sixers’ cause when the New York Knicks traded for Mikal Bridges, and were soon able to retain OG Anunoby.

But by the time many of us woke up Monday morning, odds makers’ opinions of the current NBA hierarchy had shifted dramatically. Daryl Morey’s group has now peaked at +800, pushing the Knicks’ down from +800 to +950, following their loss of Isaiah Hartenstein.

The Boston Celtics have re-signed Derrick White, and even though Kristaps Porzingis is set to miss significant time as he rehabs from surgery, the reigning champs are still given a massive edge, +295.

The Celtics’ implied odds to win the 2024-2025 title are now around 25 percent. Philadelphia’s are near 11 percent. As many of you might remember, Morey said that if you have about a five percent chance it makes sense to cash in your future picks to go for it. Well, if that’s still the case, possessing an implied 11 percent should certainly entice him to keep looking to add firepower.

We’ll see how this plays out because it’s gotta be relatively unprecedented for a team that basically only has a handful of players (e.g. Embiid, Maxey, George, Drummond, Gordon, Oubre, Jr. McCain, Bona) in tow to be favored so heavily. So we’ll pay close attention to what happens with the final few roster spots. One name to watch could be veteran guard Reggie Bullock (pronounced Bull-LOCK which likely helps him lock up opposing guards).

The former Knick and Maverick is meeting with the Sixers and head coach Nick Nurse should be able to sell some helpful connective vets by offering a key role on a now true title contender.