NBA Max Deals Mean Better Times For Philadelphia 76ers

By Bret Stuter | Jul 2, 2016

May 30, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) dribbles the basketball against Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala (9) during the fourth quarter in game seven of the Western conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Thunder 96-88. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

With the lid to NBA Contracts blown off in free agency, the eventual laws of economics will come: whatever goes up, must come down. That will benefit the Philadelphia 76ers

The NBA free agency contracts are like a runaway freight trains right now. With a huge surplus of cash enveloping a limited number of free agents, prices have been driven upwards exponentially. While teams, flush with cash, rush to the free agent market to spend it all on the next big name, the Philadelphia 76ers have managed to sign one free agent to a modest contract. Have the Philadelphia 76ers come out of the gates at a a crawl while other teams are galloping ahead at lightning speed?

Perhaps.

But that’s a sign of wisdom, and of better times, for the Philadelphia 76ers.

How so?

Cash in the NBA is always the great equalizer. Despite the Gilbert Arenas, Bird, and Derrick Rose provisions, at the end of the day the teams who land the big names still must find the room to pay for them.

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To make room to sign Kevin Durant, some well to do team will be forced to cut quality players from their roster. To afford LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be forced to pare down their payroll.

When that happens, it will benefit the Philadelphia 76ers in two ways:

First, the 76ers are still flush with cash. It has not burned a hole in their pockets as had been feared. As good teams cut payroll ballast to afford the top stars, those players are now available at much more affordable prices – and with post-season experience. Whether it ends up as the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers, or the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team which wins the Kevin Durant sweepstakes will need to strip their roster of quality contributing players to afford him.

They enter the market later, when most teams have squandered their free agency dollars. Only a few teams will have serious available money left, and the Philadelphia 76ers will be one of them.

But there is a second way the Philadelphia 76ers benefit from all of this overspend. The Philadelphia 76ers’ roster is a stockpile of young, talented, and inexpensive players. Despite the chiding and derision, many of the players on the Philadelphia 76ers are as good if not better than some of the players earning incredible sums of money.

Whether it is now, in mid-season, or at the 2017 NBA trade deadline, one or more of the teams with play-off aspirations will recognize that they have either overpaid, or stripped the depth of their roster so severely as to make a deep playoff run impossible without a boost.

Then we have them.

Not every NBA team with a need at center will win a top name center in free agency. Dwight Howard left the Houston Rockets and joined the Atlanta Hawks. Joakim Noah has parted from the Chicago Bulls and joined the NY Knicks. Now the Rockets and the Bulls are in the market for center.

And so it goes. Many teams who were talking to the Philadelphia 76ers interested in trading for one of the three young centers felt they had the leverage to ask for a price far and above the value of a draft pick. Now that the NBA Draft is history, the reality of building a top roster faces the general managers of each of those NBA Teams.

In the end, the Boston Celtics, whose price for the 3rd pick in the 2016 NBA draft mysteriously rose from a straight swap for Jahlil Okafor to a price that included Okafor, the Lakers 2017 first round pick and more, are still seeking their first NBA free agent signing. And they are still without a solution at the center position – but now have no leverage.

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And so, those who had raised the price on the Philadelphia 76ers, must realize that it goes both ways now. For all the bluster and the wheeling dealing, NBA teams seeking playoff runs must build more than a solid five man starting lineup: they need to ensure a quality bench. Eventually that will drive the wisest teams to call on the Philadelphia 76ers.

By the NBA trade deadline, the 76ers may be the only market still open to trade for good talent at inexpensive prices.