So here we are again. Trade Joel Embiid. Trade Paul George. Trade everybody.
And while you’re at it, fire Nick Nurse and Daryl Morey, too.
In the minds of many, that’s how the Sixers can cleanse their palates after being embarrassed by the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs: Dump everybody. Tear this GMC Gremlin of a team down to the chassis, and start over.
Only it’s not that easy. Embiid, who is 32, is on the books for three more seasons, the 36-year-old George for two. Their respective pricetags are $193 million and $110 million. Next season alone, they will make $112 million between them.
Those numbers, along with that duo’s inability to stay healthy, make them untradeable. No other team in the league is gonna want them, unless the Sixers agree to take some lousy contracts or lousy players in return.
So everybody just calm down, take a few cleansing breaths and come to the realization that those two guys are gonna be on the roster in 2026-27. And that neither is likely to play more than 50 games, as this team once again attempts to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
At least the Sixers have two significant building blocks in Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, their young guards. But that’s not nearly enough to get them where they want to go.
They have four unrestricted free agents: Kelly Oubre Jr., Quentin Grimes, Kyle Lowry and Andre Drummond. The team should consider retaining Oubre, who has shown himself to be a useful wing defender and off-ball cutter, and that’s it.
Grimes played well after coming over in a trade midway through ‘24-25, but regressed this season, showing once again that it’s never a good idea to trust someone with good stats on a bad team, which last year’s 24-win Sixers most definitely were.
Drummond had his moments as Embiid’s backup and a frequent fill-in when Jo couldn’t go, but opponents gleefully attacked the slow-footed 32-year-old on the pick-and-roll, a staple of every NBA offense. So adios to him as well.
Lowry has enjoyed a nice career and is a favorite of Nurse’s, the two of them having won a title together in Toronto. But he was little more than a uniformed assistant coach this season. Retirement would seem to be a sensible route. So too would a role as a real-life assistant, given how much sway he holds in the locker room.
The Sixers also hold contract options on Dominick Barlow, Trendon Watford and Dalen Terry for next season. Barlow is a useful energy guy, so he should stay. The other two, not so much.
Not sure what to make of third-string center Adem Bona, whose contract is unguaranteed next season. Every now and then he showed some flashes. Other times he was so undisciplined that he couldn’t stay on the floor. He’s a maybe.
That’s at least four open roster spots. One will likely be filled by their first-round draft pick, as the Sixers hold the No. 22 overall pick in the June selection process. Per Sportrac, they will be about $26 million under the salary cap’s first apron, which is in effect a hard cap; exceed that, and teams face not only a luxury tax but severe restrictions on their ability to add players.
So, $26 million. And hey, James Harden and Tobias Harris will be out there! Ben Simmons and Al Horford, too!
Kidding.
Likely the Sixers will have to settle for one or two lesser free agents. Shooters like Tim Hardaway Jr. or Landry Shamet, the latter of whom bedeviled them in the Knicks series. Backup centers like Jusuf Nurkic or Nick Richards.
Not exciting, but that’s where the Sixers are now – locked in that vast middle ground where they are neither good enough to win a championship nor bad enough to make the draft lottery. It is the exact position they hoped to avoid when they entered into The Process all those years ago. Funny how things worked out.
Basically, they have to be creative, and they have to get lucky, as they did when they took Maxey at No. 21 in 2020 or when they chose (ahem) Jared McCain at No. 16 in 2024.
But wholesale changes, much as they might be needed, would not appear to be in the offing.
And I know that’s not what some of you might wanna hear.
Sorry.