With Daryl Morey still at the helm for the Philadelphia 76ers, you can definitely count on the team remaining to be a frequent customer in the rumor mill in the upcoming season. That has been the MO of this front office for almost a decade now, and it stands to stay the same given the squad’s current shaky footing in their comeback bid.
The 76ers will enter the season as arguably the most unpredictable team in the entire association. No one really knows how they will fare in their looming campaign, especially since they managed to outdo themselves last season in the worst way possible, finishing with a 24-58 win-loss card and the fifth-worst record out of all teams.
Next season, expectations will be akin to an ultimatum for the 76ers. This nucleus is not going anywhere, yet it is also going nowhere given the status quo. Injuries and age-related decline are serious threats for this core, so it is incumbent upon the front office to arm the team with more well-rounded options to cover all bases.
However, a brief glance at the team’s current roster will not imbue a lot of confidence about the team’s inherent ability to make substantial changes and/or improvements next season.
The 76ers face a tall task due to their inability to make realistic trades next season
With Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey co-piloting the squad, the 76ers have one of the most top-heavy pay rolls in the league. In approximate terms, those three will make a combined $145 million next season, accounting for more than 70 percent of their current total cap allocation.
Yet accounting for that, the 76ers actually only tout the 13th-most expensive roster in the league. The culprit? Look no further than their sheer lack of players who make “average” money.
After Maxey, the next-highest salary on the team belongs to rookie VJ Edgecombe, who is set to earn $11.1 million on his rookie year. Kelly Oubre Jr. trails him with $8.3 million to his name. And really, after that, it’s all minimum-scale contracts.
The consequence of having such a top-heavy payroll is that the front office will find it highly difficult to snag desirable role players via trade. George should be someone they are looking to trade, but he is making way too much money that teams will also consider it burdensome just to match salaries. Ditto for Joel Embiid.
Maxey and Edgecombe are not going anywhere, so that leaves Oubre and perhaps Andre Drummond as probable trade candidates. For now, both players are being actively shopped, but there has been a dearth of actual interested parties at this moment.
Thanks to their aggressive spending, the Philadelphia 76ers might be forced to become a bystander next season, save for minor, low-scale deals. And really, they only have themselves to blame.