By now, it's becoming clear that the Philadelphia 76ers are looking to avoid cutting ties with the young veteran Jabari Walker. That could come at the cost of moving the sophomore center, Johni Broome, admitting Daryl Morey's final draft mistake for Philly.
Soon, the Sixers will welcome the two-time NBA champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the roster. Once he officially clears waivers following the buyout with the Memphis Grizzlies, KCP will ink a veteran's minimum deal, following LeBron James' footsteps. The Sixers will need to make a follow-up move to make room.
The NBA isn't making it easy for the Sixers
When the 76ers made room for LeBron, Mike Gansey and the Sixers' front office simply needed to cut ties with Dalen Terry. With a non-guaranteed deal before January 10, Terry could be let go without the team facing any financial penalties.
Walker has a small guarantee, which made him an obvious candidate to go, but The Stein Line's Jake Fischer reports that the Sixers "prefer to retain" Walker for the 2026-2027 NBA season. As a result, Johni Broome has hit the trade block.
But NBA teams aren't going to rush to help the Sixers out in this situation. On Monday, we found out that Broome is being shopped around, and Fischer makes it clear that teams might expect the Sixers to add sweeteners to the deal just to dump off Broome's salary. Unfortunately, the price to move him might be steeper than the Sixers anticipated.
There are other options
If the Sixers can't trade Broome without sending an unreasonable asset with the second-year center, they have the waive-and-stretch option. It's not ideal in the long term, but adding a win-now piece often requires some sacrifice. And after all, you're doing LeBron James a favor--the guy who just agreed to play for $3.8 million after making $52.6 million in sunny LA.
It shouldn't be easy for a team to cut ties with a homegrown prospect before truly allowing them to get their feet wet, but the Sixers are in a difficult spot. What are the chances Broome beats out Adem Bona or Ariel Hukporti for the backup big spot this offseason? Even with all of these guys on board, most view the Sixers' center depth as the weakest on the chart.
And if you look at Jabari Walker, he's younger than Broome with more experience to bring to the table. Walker spent three seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers and played in 64 games for the Sixers last year. The veteran forward averaged 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game with the Sixers.
Moving Broome is proving to be a tough task, but the Sixers seem to be making a clear effort to get it done.
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