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Well, they did it! Hang the banner. The Philadelphia 76ers dodged the luxury tax yet again! Isn’t that what the NBA trade deadline is all about?!
The Feb. 5, 3 p.m. ET deadline has now come and gone. The Sixers made just two moves at the trade deadline. The first was on Wednesday, sending sophomore player Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder in return for what will ultimately be a first-round pick and three second-rounders. The second, the Sixers’ last minute move with less than an hour until the deadline, was to salary dump Eric Gordon to the Memphis Grizzlies for a 2023 second-round pick swap.
That was it. Truly. And the thing that is an even bigger middle finger to the fans is they are going to try to spin it like the strategy somehow wasn’t focused on dodging the luxury tax and saving/making money for billionaire owner Josh Harris.
The luxury tax line was actually made easier to duck for the Sixers organization with the suspension of Paul George. Because of his 25-game punishment without pay, the Sixers were given a tax credit of $5.8 million, which brought their overage from $7 million down to just $1.3 million. McCain was making $4.2 million this year, meaning passing off his salary got the Sixers under the luxury tax line and left a little room for them to presumably sign Dominick Barlow to a standard contract.
Everyone wins! Oh, except the fans who wanted the team to get even a tiny bit better at the deadline. And the members of the Sixers themselves, like Joel Embiid, who plainly told reporters last week that he hoped to see the ownership work on keeping the team together or improving, not ducking the tax.
“I love all the guys that are in here. I think we got a shot,” Embiid said. “I don’t know what they’re going to do. I hope we get a chance to just go out and compete because we got a good group of guys in this locker room, vibes are great. In the past we’ve been ducking the tax, so hopefully we think about improving, because we got a chance.”
So, no one wins, actually, except the guy at the top paying less in tax and making more on team-sharing revenue. Got it.
McCain was not only a fan favorite, but seemingly a favorite amongst the Sixers team as well, with many players sharing photos of themselves with McCain and well wishes on social media after the trade news dropped. People can debate on whether or not McCain as a player was the one to ship out now to make this sort cash saving/draft capital-only returns deal. That’s a whole different article entirely.
Here, I just want to talk about how much of an insult this deadline strategy overall was to the fans and the people of Philadelphia that have been supporting this organization — watching from home, in person, financially or otherwise — for seasons only to continue to be force-fed these disappointments.
I want to make something clear, too: I am not saying an owner is good or a team will be successful just because they go over the tax. That’s not the case. It’s about the mentality and moves made at this deadline being clearly more influenced by a desire to dodge the tax than to improve the team on the floor.
If you as a front office can somehow still meaningfully improve the team while staying under that tax line, or if you try to stay under that line during seasons there doesn’t seem to be a ton of holes in your roster, then more power to you. But seemingly letting your team’s main trade deadline priority be to get under the tax line rather than get better, especially a team that’s in the situation the Sixers’ are right now, it’s egregious.
The seeding of the Eastern Conference is wide open this season. At the time of writing, the Sixers are No. 5 in the East at 29-21. Only 3.5 games stand between them and the No. 2 seed (right now held by the New York Knicks at 33-18). Embiid looks healthier, the team is on a five-game win streak, and general vibes around the Sixers weren’t completely in the dumpster for what felt like the first time in a very long time.
I’m not saying a minor improvement at the deadline would have taken the Sixers to realistic championship contenders. I don’t think anyone believes that. But it certainly couldn’t have hurt!
Instead, to go about it this way and not even try to improve is what is a giant slap in the face to anyone who continues to support this organization. A most-likely late first-rounder and more second-rounders (of which the Sixers have 14 now, by the way. Fourteen.) is what the front office is going to try to spin as this big gain that was the best way to make the team better. That signing Dominick Barlow to a standard contract (something that was going to happen anyway) is going to be good enough for them or that they believe in the roster they already have.
These specific moves were not the keys necessary to convert Barlow. They weren’t. All they needed to convert Barlow was an open roster spot. The luxury tax has zero impact on their ability to give Barlow a standard deal.
Also, there’s no telling whether or not that trove of second-round picks they’re stacking won’t just be ultimately used to salary dump or tax dodge in the future!
The Sixers front office’s actions (and inactions) at the deadline just coincidentally saved the owner money while adding nothing to the team they have. Yet again. Nothing to see here, though. Just a coincidental pattern.
The sad part of the matter is that, no matter how many times something like this happens, the Philadelphia fans are unfortunately the perfect victims for this. It’s a loyalty that knows no bounds, even in the face of completely insane scandals, mismanagement, arena proposal discussions, injuries, failures on the court and off, etc. Ask your local Sixers fan their favorite war tale of their fandom, and I bet they could tell you a doozy.
But we always show up and we just keep coming back. We look for any ounce of… well, ANYTHING that gives us an excuse to be excited again. Anything to give us an excuse to put the 76ers hat on again and talk to our friends about having a sliver of hope or optimism. Don’t believe me? Look at the numbers. Last season, as the Sixers desperately crawled toward a 24-58 finish with half of the original roster out for injury, there were fans in the seats and watching at home. Even after the disastrous results of last season and basement expectations for this year, drafting VJ Edgecombe and the team seemingly all getting along was enough to put fans back in the seats right from the jump. The Sixers have averaged attendance of 18,887 in home games so far this campaign and there has been genuine buzz around the squad, even if its celebrating every little win or just getting to see Embiid dominate again.
Even look back to 2015-16. The Sixers were a franchise-worst 10-72 in that season. Ten wins the entire year and only seven in Philadelphia. They still had an average crowd of 14,881 at home. The fans just keep showing up.
And Josh Harris, a man with a net worth of $10.7 billion, repays them and the guys on the floor by making sure, first and foremost, that he makes himself a few more dollars. At any cost to the actual team. Again.
We thought this was about winning basketball games? Guess we’re the fools.