The Philadelphia 76ers are known for being a team with a lot of money to spend, but just how much money exactly do they have?
The Philadelphia 76ers are set up well for the future, especially after this year’s free agency signings. Not only do they now have players that appear to be solid and ready to lead the Sixers to some serious competition, but they also will have money to spend to bring in high-level free agents for the years to come.
But just how much money?
Bryan Colangelo, the current team president, made three big free agent signings this season. There are some smaller-level signings that were made for low amounts of money, but that’s fairly typical before training camp. Some of those players may be in competition for a roster spot, but not many.
None of the deals Colangelo signed go for more than three seasons. Only one of them is guaranteed to be on the books for three years, and that salary is actually a declining one (meaning that by the time the third season comes around, the salary will be significantly lower than what it started at). The other two salaries are only guaranteed for this season.
In addition to all of that, none of these contracts on their own exceed 10 percent of the current salary cap.
The Sixers are paying out a bit now for stopgap players that will make them more competitive, but won’t be needing to pay them for long periods of time. They help the team win games, which will ultimately (in conjunction with solid players such as Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Nerlens Noel/Jahlil Okafor) make them an attractive spot for free agents.
This season, the Sixers, even after their free agent signings so far, have over $25 million left to spend.
This upcoming offseason, the Sixers will remove Sergio Rodriguez, Carl Landry, and Hollis Thompson from their books, which leaves them with $37.4 million to spend.
The following year, the Sixers will have $49 million to spend after getting Gerald Henderson, (assuming his contract is not taken off the previous year, in which case the Sixers would have closer to $60 million to spend) Robert Covington, and Jerami Grant off of their books. In this year, however, Nerlens Noel is a restricted free agent, so if the Sixers keep him around they will have to match any offers extended his way.
The year after that, when the Sixers get Jerryd Bayless off of the books as well, the Sixers are currently scheduled to have nearly $72 million to spend. With Nerlens Noel’s restricted free agent season in mind, this could be closer to $55-60 million for the Sixers to spend.
Of course, these numbers are skewed in a few ways. First of all, I’m going with the current salary cap of $94 million, which is projected to rise over the next few seasons before tapering off. With that in mind, these numbers could get even more optimistic for the Sixers.
Secondly, the numbers — and the money available to spend — is likely to go way down, especially for the final two years. Next year, one would expect the Sixers to be active in free agency, but they do have $37.4 million to use next season, and then lots of money to use in the following years, which means they can sign some players to large, four-year deals if they feel they are worth it.
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Overall, we can’t know for sure how much money the Sixers will have exactly in the next several years since it depends on free agency signings next season and even what’s left of this season (the team could potentially target Dion Waiters) but they do have a lot of money to spend, and if they can win more this season, that could make them a very attractive free agency destination.