Sixers keep J.J. Redick on 1-year, $12-13 million deal

The veteran guard has returned to the Philadelphia 76ers, locking in last year’s starting lineup that made it to the second round.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN has reported that J.J. Redick has agreed to “return to the Sixers on a 1-year deal in the $12M-to-$13M range.”

Redick was an incredibly important part of the team last year, and if the Miami Heat series taught us anything, it’s that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can never have enough shooting around them. Luckily, shooting is the one thing you can always count on Redick to provide.

As of now, the Philadelphia 76ers are returning their most important pieces. The starting lineup of Simmons, Redick, Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and Embiid will be in tact for at least another year, barring a trade or promotion of a bench player. Markelle Fultz and T.J. McConnell also remain as key pieces.

Putting aside the new draft selections and possible arrival of Jonah Bolden or Anzejs Pasecniks, there are still holes that need to be patched in the roster. Marco Bellinelli and Ersan Ilyasova both left for greener pastures this offseason (and by “greener,” I mean “willing to pay them more”), and their postseason production will need to be replaced.

(Woj obviously doesn't need to be confirmed, so some commentary)

Getting Redick back at that number is a solid, sensible move. Leaves the Sixers with somewhere between $13-14 million in space, so there's still opportunity to add 1 or 2 more legit contributors.
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) July 2, 2018

$13-14 million is still a lot to play with, and it’s unlikely that any single free agent that Sixers would want (i.e. not DeMarcus Cousins) will not cost more than that. We also will have the $8.64 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception at our disposal if we do get close to the cap.

Things have been mostly quiet on the Avery Bradley front, but he makes a lot of sense as a guy that might roughly command a salary in the $14 million range, and who can play off-ball on offense while cross-matching onto point guards on defense.

Signing someone like Bradley (or a cheaper option like Wayne Ellington) would leave us with a guard-heavy roster. One possible solution: start a guard in place of Dario Saric. A lineup like Fultz-Redick-Covington-Simmons-Embiid would still leave us a solid bench unit of McConnell, Bradley, Zhaire Smith, Dario Saric, and Richaun Holmes/Jonah Bolden. Not shabby.

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Of course, there are more conventional ways to fill out the roster. Anthony Tolliver, Jeff Green, or Luc Mbah a Moute could all be signed to fill the backup power forward role without taking up too much space. We could even trade for Wilson Chandler.

Like I wrote in that Chandler article though, if we strike out on LeBron, we should keep pursuing one year deals. Fill the roster with the role players we need to make a playoff run this year, but preserve the cap flexibility to be a major player in next year’s free agency.

Redick is the first step in that direction. As I wrote in an article about how the 76ers can get LeBron, Kawhi, and Redick (R.I.P.), I think Redick’s deal last year was to set himself up for cheaper deals in the future.

"… I think he was overpaid on the first deal with the implication that he would sign for less later on.Keep in mind also that he wanted to sign with the Rockets last season, but they would only offer a three-year deal when he wanted a four-year deal. It seems like 37 is his planned retirement age, so [a three-year, $26 million] deal would take him right there.When taken in conjunction with his salary for the past year, it would work out to a four-year, $49 million deal. Sounds fair to me."

Perhaps this year, the Sixers found themselves in the same situation again: cap space to burn, no one they want to overspend on.

If the NBA allowed for it, the 76ers could have just signed him to a four year, $50 million deal from the outset last year and paid him $23 million the first year and $12-13 next year. Unfortunately, there are rules governing how much a contract can increase or decrease from year to year, so the only way to circumvent this is to sign consecutive one year deals.

Next: LeBron's decision opens the Sixers' championship window

This deal will bring Redick’s total earnings with the Sixers up to roughly $35 million over two years. If somewhere around four years and $50 million was his original intention, perhaps he’ll sign a two year, $15 million deal with us next offseason. If he doesn’t at least we’ll still have our flexibility.