Philadelphia 76ers: After Tobias Harris trade, it’s time to move Markelle Fultz

With the trade deadline edging closer, should the Philadelphia 76ers deal Markelle Fultz?

The NBA trade deadline is rapidly approaching with less than 24 hours left. The Philadelphia 76ers have now pulled off not one, but two blockbuster deals over the course of the year. The trades have not come without significant risk as they have traded long-term assets in Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Landry Shamet, and two first round picks for future unrestricted free agents in Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris.

Per reports, Philadelphia intends on resigning both Butler and Harris. Both players can each sign a max contract of five years, $189,660,000. That’s a max salary in 2019-20 of $32,700,000 with the max of eight percent raises.

Philadelphia will likely try to negotiate a salary with Tobias Harris that is slightly less than the full five-year max contract. However, him and Butler were only acquired this year and will have many suitors. For the practice of non-wishful thinking, we’ll account for them both receiving the max.

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Between their 2019 contract values and Joel Embiid’s, Philadelphia will be paying the three players a combined $92.9 million. Ben Simmons will also likely be extended at some point early in the year before he hits restricted free agency and allowing teams to make his contract less team friendly than a max already is. So, between the four players, the team salary is right around $101 million. Renouncing J.J. Redick, Boban Marjanovic, Mike Scott, T.J. McConnell, and Amir Johnson leaves Philadelphia with eight players and $9.6 million dollars over the cap.

The four players outside of the big four are Jonah Bolden, Justin Patton, Zhaire Smith, and of course… Markelle Fultz. The former three are young players on good value contracts. The latter is perhaps one of the most interesting cases in NBA history.

Philadelphia 76ers fans have long been torn and divided by their feelings toward Markelle Fultz. This morning’s trade for Tobias Harris almost assuredly squashes the debate.

With Philadelphia looking to sign all four key players to long-term deals, Fultz must be on the trading block. It is time. Philadelphia will look to finally move Fultz with hopes of helping the team this year and maintaining complete flexibility moving forward. Therefore, they should be looking for help in the guard spots, particularly on expiring contracts.

The buyout market proved friendly for Philadelphia last year and looks as though it could be strongest this year among shooting guards with Wesley Matthews, Wayne Ellington and Corey Brewer potentially being on the market. Backup point guard then becomes the biggest need. Unfortunately, the options are limited between players both likely on the block and worth bringing in.

Waiting for the buyout market brought in very useful players for Philadelphia last year in Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli. However, it is always risky relying on buyouts. Wesley Matthews could sign elsewhere, perhaps someone else scoops up Brewer in the next 24 hours, and the Miami Heat don’t have much reason to buyout Ellington.

Philadelphia needs to address the backcourt. The backup point guard market is slim, and the buyout market may not be that fruitful. Knowing Philadelphia needs to move on from Fultz they should look to add a good defender that can switch on defense while working on an expiring contract. Luckily, there is a great candidate.

They can target Terrence Ross from the Orlando Magic. A theoretical package for Ross would allow Philadelphia to keep their second-round pick from Chicago, which could prove rather useful with such an expensive team on the horizon. The salary for Ross and Fultz work straight-up.

By trading Fultz, renouncing the rights to the players mentioned earlier, and signing both Butler and Harris to max contracts Philadelphia will then have seven players under contract for 108.9 million dollars in 2019-2020, .1 million short of the proposed salary cap. This is very significant as it allows them to sign a player they don’t have bird rights for.

This offseason, Philadelphia can use that final signing, bring Redick back (on some form of a discount) and sign other players with their exceptions and minimum contracts. They will likely once again see depth as an issue but will hope that their breadth of all-stars outweighs their lack of depth.

Philadelphia has a long way to go this year, and the entire league has a long way to go this offseason, but three things are certain: Fultz should be on the move, Elton Brand is going for it, and “The Process” has now officially come full circle.