Sixers Seek Salary To Sign Suns Sonny Weems

In a move to get above the minimum salary threshhold for an NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers are rumored to be terminating have terminated the ten day contract of Christian Wood and looking to sign have signed former Phoenix Sun guard Sonny Weems.

Salary Cap.  That’s certainly not something you might expect to motivate the Philadelphia 76ers. But president/general manager never seems to miss a trick, never seems to be asleep at the wheel. And so, the Sixers fell below the salary cap when they were caught in a voided trade that forced them to waive a player, JaKarr Sampson, to make room for taking on the contract of Joel Anthony of the Detroit Pistons.

And so, without the salary hit of Anthony’s paychecks to the team payroll, the Philadelphia 76ers had fallen under the salary cap. Since the team operates on a minimal salary anyways, any loss due to attrition can and does send them below the surface.

But Sam Hinkie knows the rules of this NBA, and the new rules that affect team salary cap management. In order to encourage NBA teams to sign veteran players, the collective bargaining agreement allows a team in the position of the Philadelphia 76ers to sign a veteran who only has a small salary remaining to be paid through the remainder of the year, and get “credit” for his entire salary by signing him onboard. So too, the team that was on the hook for his salary cap hit, sheds the salary weight when another team does so.

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And so it happens that the Philadelphia 76ers will inadvertantly extend a courtesy to the Phoenix Suns in that fashion.

By doing so at this point in the season, the Philadelphia 76ers will be on the hook for just the remainder of his salary, or approximately $660,000. The move appears to be geared toward lifting Philadelphia’s team salary, currently at about $60,400,000, to the league minimum of $63,000,000. Weems makes $2,814,000, which should push the Sixers over the salary floor by about $200,000.

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Why do so?  Well, the move gives ownership credit for Weems entire salary.  So spend $600,000 for a $2,814,000 player.   If the Sixers do not do the move, the team will simply need to make up the difference with real cash payouts.  To make the offer to sign Weems, the team will likely terminate the ten-day contract recently signed with power forward Christian Wood.

The Suns waived Weems two days ago in order to make room for players who seemed to be outperforming him this year, as well as for Suns claiming guard John Jenkins off waivers.  In the 2015-2016 season, Weems played in 36 of a possible 62 games, averaging 11.7 minutes and 2.5 points per game. He last played in the March 3 loss to the Heat for only three minutes.    While the move is almost certainly just a salary cap move, the Philadelphia 76ers have been experimenting, and succeeding with their own version of small ball recently.  Their latest loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, March 6, was despite the team having success with a small ball lineup.

Before this article went to publication, the news became official:

With every signing, there is a need to make room. And so it was that Christian Wood is now seeking a basketball roster to continue pursuing his dream:

With the addition of guard Sonny Weems, the team will have one more small body to add to the rotation. But will Sixers keep him?

It seems they will.