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We are approaching an annual rite of passage: The Philadelphia 76ers’ ritual midseason salary dump. Just $7 million separate the team from skirting the tax. If they don’t trim that much from the bottom line by offloading Kelly Oubre Jr. or Andre Drummond-plus-Mystery-Salary-X, count me every brand of shizzocked.
Keeping this in mind is important when building the Sixers’ trade-deadline big board. The last edition had them targeting players who make more than pennies on the dollar. This iteration is rooted more in reality.
Keon Ellis is on the books for $2.3 million, hits threes, can defend, and most importantly of all, plays for a team physically incapable of winning trades. In a perfect world, he’d be a few inches taller. But having him, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes gives Philly a who’s who of not-huge-guards who can try pestering properly sized wings.
Searching for a big rings slightly hollow when the Sixers have Drummond, Joel Embiid, Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow. Jay Huff is cheap enough ($2.3 million) for Philly to sniff around his floor-spacing-rim-protector outlines. Especially if Drummond becomes tax-ducking collateral damage.
Tari Eason remains an agent of defensive chaos when healthy. He is pure anarchy when his threes are falling. Philly should not go all-out to get him, but injuries, next summer’s foray into restricted free agency and the Houston Rockets’ proximity to ducking the tax could pave the way for a more reasonable price tag if a third (and potentially fourth) team gets involved.