Since October, various jersey swaps of Cooper Flagg in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform have been rampant across social media. As Philadelphia continued to tank, the excitement of it possibly landing the first overall pick in the upcoming draft and selecting Flagg grew with each loss. Needless to say, acquiring Flagg would be an absolute dream for the 76ers, but once the hype wears off, their front office will have a lot of interesting choices to make heading into the offseason that could determine their ceiling next year.
Step one: nail the second-round
With the hypothetical addition of Flagg, Philadelphia filled its glaring hole at power forward, which was apparent throughout the season. This means the 76ers can use their 35th overall pick to fill out other aspects of their roster, ranging from guard depth to more front-court help. Philadelphia has a quality second-round pick, so there will be plenty of intriguing options, such as Auburn forward Johni Broome, Arkansas forward Adou Thiero, Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier, and many more. I’ll go more in-depth on these options in a later article.
Step two: re-sign Quentin Grimes
However, this heavily desired scenario gets most interesting when free agency commences. It’s difficult to forecast how much cap space the 76ers will possess heading into the summer, as there are many moving parts. As of now, Philadelphia has a payroll of about $170.3 million, which puts it nearly $8 million below the first tax apron. The 2025-26 rookie scale structure offers approximately $13.8 million for the first overall pick, which in this situation would be Flagg. Still, it gets complicated when you factor in the array of players and team options the 76ers have.
"I believe Kelly, I think Drummond, I think Eric, they're all likely to come back."
— Jacob Moreno (@jmoreno76ers) May 8, 2025
- Daryl Morey on @RTRSPodcast
Regardless, Philadelphia’s main priority in free agency, especially with Flagg, should be re-signing Quentin Grimes for the long haul. Grimes will become a restricted free agent, and with his terrific 28-game stretch with the 76ers, he’ll likely become one of the more sought-after players. Luckily for Philadelphia, teams with great cap space, such as the Brooklyn Nets and Utah Jazz, don’t make much sense for Grimes in terms of contention. Even so, the 76ers can utilize his bird rights to match any offer a team may give Grimes, regardless of the salary cap.
Step three: let Guerschon Yabusele walk
This leaves the most difficult situation that Philadelphia has to face in a few months – what to do with Guerschon Yabusele. If Flagg becomes a 76er, Yabusele is probably as good as gone, considering he also cemented himself as one of the better incoming free agents. Yabusele likely desires the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which would pay him around $14.1 million next season. As previously mentioned, with Philadelphia’s moving parts, it’s hard to say if it can free that much cap space, but it’s highly unlikely with Flagg’s salary.
If the 76ers can capture the Flagg, add an intriguing prospect with their second-round pick, re-sign Grimes, and fill the rest of the roster out with cheap veteran players below the age of 30 years old, this will be one of the most successful offseasons in franchise history.