Less than four hours after Andre Drummond accepted his player option, the Philadelphia 76ers have declined Jared Butler’s $2.3 million team option according to Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports. Now, Butler will enter free agency as Philadelphia makes way for V.J. Edgecombe and Hunter Sallis, who was signed to a two-way contract on Thursday. Above all, the 76ers likely made this decision to gain financial flexibility in their quest to re-sign Quentin Grimes and Guerschon Yabusele.
Butler had a solid 76ers tenure
Originally, Philadelphia acquired Butler and four future second-round picks from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Reggie Jackson and a 2026 first-round pick swap in February. The 76ers were in need of a backup point guard with fresher legs, who could run the second unit. Butler played 28 games for Philadelphia and averaged 11.5 points per game on 54% true-shooting. He also recorded 4.9 assists per game and 1.1 steals per game.
Despite Philadelphia’s tank, the 24-year-old showed promise as a fundamental guard who could successfully create advantages out of pick-and-rolls. While some outings were more efficient than others, Butler was also a capable spot-up shooter. Defensively, he was a neutral to plus in terms of impact, but it was heavily dependent on the matchup.
All in all, Butler showed some stuff and likely would’ve been kept by Philadelphia if it wasn’t scraping for pennies and didn’t have a loaded back-court already. There will likely be teams interested in his talents at the start of free agency on June 30th. However, the 76ers’ trade for Butler wasn’t for nothing as they still acquired multiple second-rounders that can be used in a future trade.
Why did the 76ers have to do this?
As it correlates to Quentin Grimes and Guerschon Yabusele, Philadelphia shedding Butler’s $2.3 million salary could be indicative of its desire to separate from the first tax apron as much as possible. The 76ers’ financials will become clear on June 29th, the deadline for Kelly Oubre Jr. and Eric Gordon to accept their player options and for Justin Edwards and Lonnie Walker IV’s team options to be taken.
Philadelphia’s active roster for the 2025-26 season – including player options, team options, and non-guaranteed deals – totals approximately $175 million. This excludes Edgecombe’s rookie scale contract and any other cap holds. As it stands, the 76ers are about $21 million below the first tax apron and $13 million from the luxury tax threshold. Philadelphia likely won’t obtain the ability to both give Yabusele the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception and re-sign Grimes. Still, the 76ers saving money where they can is essential.