The Sixer Sense
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Robert Covington, Jerami Grant Among NBA’s Top Contracts

By Kevin Kolodziej

Mar 4, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Robert Covington (33) and forward Jerami Grant (39) celebrate a score against the Miami Heat during the second half at Wells Fargo Center. The Miami Heat won 112-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Robert Covington (33) and forward Jerami Grant (39) celebrate a score against the Miami Heat during the second half at Wells Fargo Center. The Miami Heat won 112-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia 76ers have Robert Covington and Jerami Grant locked up through the 2017-18 season on two of the best contracts in the entire NBA.

With the NBA Draft just around the corner and free agency coming shortly thereafter, it’s easy to forget about the two pieces of contractual gold that the Philadelphia 76ers already have on their roster.

Believe it or not, the Sixers have arguably the two best contracts in the league in the form of Robert Covington and Jerami Grant‘s signed literature.

Now, I’m not saying that Covington and Grant are All-Star caliber players, but no other team in the NBA has the type of talent that these two produce for such a low price.

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Together, Covington and Grant will make less than $2 million combined ($1,996,127 to be exact) during the 2016-17 season (when the cap is expected to rise to an all-time high of $92 million). If you do the math: that’s approximately 2% of the Sixers’ salary for their 2016-17 campaign.

The following year (2017-18), they’ll make slightly more ($2,266,745), but the salary cap is expected to rise even more during that season to approximately $108 million. Again, do the math: that’s approximately 2% of the Sixers’ salary for their 2017-18 campaign.

Simply put, players of Covington and Grant’s caliber simply don’t make this little money in today’s NBA, and they certainly won’t when as the salary cap continues to rise.

Take a look at Covington’s stats from this past season: 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.4 assists per game in just over 28 minutes per game. Per 36 minutes, that equates to 16.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.8 assists, all while shooting just under 40% from the field.

Covington’s 170 3-pointers made were the 16th most in the entire NBA (above players like Kyle Korver, Kevin Love and Isaiah Thomas) and the 25-year old’s 1.6 steals per game were tied (with Jimmy Butler and Victor Oladipo) for the sixth-highest average in the league.

Now, take a look at Grant’s averages from 2015-16: 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 blocks while playing almost 27 minutes per game. Over 36 minutes, these stats would work out to be 13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.2 blocks.

Grant’s 127 blocks were 11th most in the NBA (again, in just under 27 minutes) and 1.6 blocks per-game average was tied for the seventh highest in the league (with Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut, Bismack Biyombo and Robin Lopez) and he’s still just 22 years old.

Sure, these aren’t exactly eye-popping numbers from either player, but the fact that the Sixers have this type of production locked up over the next two seasons for such a cheap price is borderline-unfathomable.

For reference, here’s a look at five names across the NBA that have comparable contracts (as far as years and monetary value) to Covington and Grant: Rakeem Christmas, Walter Tavares, John Jenkins, Anthony Brown and Raul Neto (feel free to look up their stats on your own, quite frankly I’m upset with myself that I’ll never get those five minutes of my life back).

From a production standpoint, five players who had similar statistical outputs (based on Player Efficiency Rating) to Covington and Grant this season were: Avery Bradley (guaranteed $24.8 million through 2017-18), Devin Harris ($12.6 million through 2017-18), Vince Carter ($4.2 million next year alone), Al-Farouq Aminu ($30 million through 2018-19) and Trevor Ariza ($23.4 million through 2017-18).

As a reminder, Covington and Grant will make a combined total of approximately $4.1 million through 2017-18 for similar production to the players mentioned above.

That’s insane.

These two contracts alone will allow the Sixers to go out and overspend on free agents over the next two off-seasons with no real repercussions, thanks to the duo’s production for such a low cost.

Next: Brandon Ingram Spotted in Philly With Brett Brown

By no means are Covington and Grant the best basketball players on the Sixers’ roster, but from a contractual and team-building standpoint, they’re certainly the most valuable.