Armed with an airy pocket this offseason, the Philadelphia 76ers have a multitude of options with regard to maximizing their cap space and other assets. At this point, a massive roster turnover should be well on its way, especially given the way the team has been repeatedly linked to multiple names over the last few weeks or so.
Having said that, while the 76ers would welcome the opportunity to sign or trade for a big name to give them that much-desired third star next to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, it seems like the front office is also eyeing to be ultra-creative with their spending power this summer.
The 76ers could set up for a potential blockbuster trade in the future
Given the frequency of their rumored linkages to high-end stars, it would seem like the 76ers would be treating the offseason as an or bust thing. But apparently, Philly is aiming to leverage their cap space should they fail to land a hot commodity.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, the 76ers could also plan to take a similar route to what Indiana did last summer when they overpaid for Bruce Brown on a short-term deal and used that to facilitate an eventual trade for Pascal Siakam — a major move that catapulted them into an Eastern Conference Finals berth this season.
"The Sixers, sources said, took note of Indiana’s two-year splurge for Bruce Brown that then became the biggest salary headed back to Toronto in exchange for Siakam. Veteran wings like Klay Thompson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope would fall on the Sixers’ list of targets for similar one-plus-one contracts."
This is Philadelphia acknowledging the real possibility that they strike out on their high-end targets in free agency. While they have another room for a max deal, their fate is simply not fully in their hands in the open market, and pursuing a trade in the near future when other stars could become available for taking is also a tenable route for the team.
In that case, going the Pacers-Brown route with either Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Klay Thompson, possibly among many others, makes a ton of sense. After all, those players work as potential salary-matchers and the 76ers have the necessary draft capital to sweeten the pot if needed.
Fortunately, it’s becoming apparent that the Piladelphia 76ers are unlikely to fumble this big and rare opportunity of having a championship-caliber base in house and a robust cap space to augment just that.