Sixers rumors: Why John Wall should be avoided at all costs

The Sixers cannot afford John Wall’s contract

John Wall is on the books for $44.3 million this season, then has a player option (which he will without a moment’s hesitation accept) for $47.4 million in 2022-23. That is an ugly number, even if Wall can get back to 70-80 percent of what he was when Washington signed him to the deal.

The Sixers already have one borderline albatross on the books in Tobias Harris, who has roughly three years and $114 million left on his contract. While Harris is playing his way out of the albatross classification, that’s still a contract few, if any teams will ever consider taking on. Wall will become a more tradable expiring contract next summer, but until then, no team (including the Sixers) should really have interest in trading anything of value for Wall.

Philadelphia’s core intent in any Simmons trade should be to either A) acquire a comparably talented All-Star or B) stock up on trade ammo for the next NBA star trade demand, be it Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, or a different name entirely. Wall is not a comparably talented All-Star, and his contract will be difficult to trade, period.

If the Sixers swap Simmons for Wall — even if it includes a boatload of picks — it becomes much harder to match salaries for another star. The Sixers would have almost $70 million in cap space tied up in Wall and Harris, leaving them with only Seth Curry ($8.2 million), Danny Green ($10 million), and Georges Niang ($3.3 million) as the only real salary “filler” left. You might have to pay to offload Harris and Wall for nothing, much less a superior talent.

That is a dangerous cap sheet for Philadelphia. One Daryl Morey and Co. cannot afford as they attempt to position Joel Embiid to compete for a championship.