2021 NBA Offseason In Review: Philadelphia 76ers

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Free agent signings:

Note: Exhibit 9 and 10 deals aren’t included here.

• Danny Green: Two years, $20MM. Second year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
• Furkan Korkmaz: Three years, $15MM. Re-signed using Bird rights.
• Georges Niang: Two years, $6.77MM. Signed using mid-level exception.
• Andre Drummond: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Aaron Henry: Two-way contract.
• Grant Riller: Two-way contract.

Trades:

• Acquired the No. 53 pick in the 2021 draft from the Pelicans in exchange for cash ($2MM).

Draft picks:

• 1-28: Jaden Springer
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $10,393,483).
• 2-50: Filip Petrusev
  • Stashed overseas.
• 2-53: Charles Bassey
  • Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. Second year partially guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.

Contract extensions:

• Joel Embiid: Four years, maximum salary. Includes fourth-year player option. Starts in 2023/24.
  • Note: Embiid’s starting salary in 2023/24 will be 35% of the ’23/24 salary cap.

Departing players:

• Gary Clark
• George Hill
• Dwight Howard
• Mike Scott
• Anthony Tolliver
• Rayjon Tucker

Other offseason news:

• Ben Simmons asked to be traded and was a holdout for the first two weeks of training camp. He remains on the roster but has told the team he’s not mentally ready to play.
• Hired Jamie Young as assistant coach; lost assistant coach Popeye Jones.
• Hired Tad Brown as CEO to replace Scott O’Neil.

Salary cap situation:

• Remained over the cap and above the tax line.
• Carrying approximately $142.9MM in salary.
• $1,664,742 of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($4,225,258 used on Georges Niang and Charles Bassey).
• Would need to shed salary to use more than taxpayer portion of mid-level exception or any part of bi-annual exception ($3,732,000), since doing either would create a $143MM hard cap.

The Sixers’ offseason:

Following some major changes prior to last season – most notably the hiring of Doc Rivers as head coach – Philadelphia wasn’t particularly active this summer. The Sixers didn’t make a noteworthy trade and their free agent moves were mainly window dressing. Under normal circumstances, they would have been under the radar, quietly preparing for another winning season and banking on their recent playoff experiences to prime them for a championship run.

Instead, the Sixers were all over the news, thanks to their disgruntled point guard in the early stages of his maximum-salary contract. Ben Simmons‘ subpar performances in last year’s playoffs, punctuated by a reluctance to shoot and woeful free-throw numbers that made it difficult to keep him in at crunch time, had a carryover effect. His offensive issues led to plenty of criticism and contributed mightily to the team’s conference semifinal loss to Atlanta. There were all kinds of detractors who wondered whether the Sixers could ever win a championship with Simmons running the show.

He could have used that as fuel to prove the critics wrong. Instead, he took the opposite approach. With four years left on his max deal, Simmons made it clear during the summer that he had no desire to suit up for the organization again. Team executives, coaches and players couldn’t make Simmons change his mind. The front office and his agent, Rich Paul, looked into potential deals but Philadelphia made it clear from the start it wanted a major haul for the three-time All-Star.

Simmons eventually ended his holdout, but the drama continued into the regular season. He has yet to play this season while top executive Daryl Morey publicly dug in his heels, saying he has four years to get a deal done.

While Simmons pushed to leave Philadelphia, the team’s other big star was happy to commit long-term with a new max extension. Despite some concerns about Joel Embiid‘s health issues, the Sixers made it clear that they’re determined to win a title with their All-Star center leading the way.

Philadelphia also brought back two key perimeter players in free agency, re-signing Danny Green and Furkan Korkmaz. Green has started on the wing since he joined the 76ers prior to last season and brings plenty of championship experience to the table. Korkmaz has been a valuable reserve the last two seasons, providing some size on the wing along with 3-point shooting.

The Sixers did go shopping for upgrades at forward and center on their second unit. They opted for former Jazz backup Georges Niang and former All-Star Andre Drummond. Niang is another player who does most of his offensive damage from beyond the 3-point line.

Drummond’s value has dropped dramatically since his first few seasons with Detroit. He had a chance to reestablish his worth when he signed with the Lakers last season after he was  bought out by Cleveland following the trade deadline. Drummond was so ineffective that he wound up getting benched in Game 6 of the conference quarterfinals against Phoenix. He’s capable of putting up big numbers at times, but he’s not used to coming off the bench.

The Sixers’ season:

Rivers admitted that the Simmons drama took some of the fun and excitement out of the start of Philadelphia’s season. The franchise is in a win-now mode and that doesn’t figure to change with Embiid locked up long-term.

It’s difficult to gauge how this season will unfold until there’s more clarity regarding Simmons’ status. It’s hard to imagine him getting back in uniform and winning over Philadelphia’s demanding fans after what has transpired over the last few months. At this point, a trade would seem like the best option, but Morey will have to drop his asking price for that to happen.

The Sixers still have the league’s top big man, a rock-solid scorer and rebounder in Tobias Harris, and a promising young point man in Tyrese Maxey. They also have plenty of shooting, led by Seth Curry. But even if Embiid is healthy for the playoffs, the Sixers will need to add a quality starter via a Simmons trade to make a spirited run this season.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post. Luke Adams contributed to this post.