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Sixers Declining Jared Butler’s Team Option

June 27th, 2025 at 2:49pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers will turn down Jared Butler‘s $2.35MM team option for the 2025/26 season, reports Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link). Friday represented the deadline for the club to make its decision.

Butler, a 6’3″ point guard who will turn 25 in August, was the 40th overall pick in the 2021 draft and has played for four teams – Utah, Oklahoma City, Washington, and Philadelphia – since entering the NBA. He was traded from the Wizards to the Sixers in February along with four second-round picks in a deal that sent Reggie Jackson and a “least favorable” 2026 first-round pick to Washington.

Butler had his best NBA season in 2024/25 in Washington and Philadelphia, appearing in 60 total games for the two teams and averaging 9.0 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.8 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .448/.355/.824.

It’s unclear whether Butler will still be in the 76ers’ plans after the team declines his option. Because he has four years of NBA service, the former Baylor standout is ineligible for a qualifying offer and will become an unrestricted free agent.

That doesn’t mean Philadelphia can’t or won’t re-sign him, but the club added No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe this week to an increasingly crowded backcourt, so the front office will likely have other priorities in free agency.

The 76ers also hold team options on Lonnie Walker ($2.94MM) and Justin Edwards ($1.96MM). Those decisions are due by Sunday.

Sixers’ Andre Drummond Opting In For 2025/26

June 27th, 2025 at 12:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Sixers center Andre Drummond has decided to pick up his $5MM player option for the 2025/26 season, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). The move locks in Drummond’s salary for next season and lines up him to return to the unrestricted free agent market in the summer of 2026.

Drummond initially signed a two-year, $10MM contract with Philadelphia last offseason. The Sixers made him a priority in free agency after coming to terms with Paul George on a maximum-salary contract because they wanted to make sure they had a reliable veteran backup for Joel Embiid.

As it turned out, Embiid played just 19 games in 2024/25 due to a knee issue, but Drummond battled health problems of his own, with a nagging toe injury limiting him to 40 appearances, including 23 starts. He averaged 7.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.0 steal in 18.8 minutes per game.

While Drummond, one of the NBA’s all-time best rebounders, continues to grab boards at an elite level, the Sixers struggled during mightily during his minutes this past season, posting a net rating of -15.5 when he was on the court. Of course, Philadelphia had a poor season all around in ’24/25, but the team had a more respectable -4.3 net rating when Drummond didn’t play.

Drummond is one of three Sixers veterans holding player options for next season. The team is still waiting on decisions from Kelly Oubre ($8.4MM) and Eric Gordon ($3.5MM).

Philadelphia now has five players on guaranteed salaries for 2025/26. Those five players – Embiid, George, Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, and Drummond – will earn a combined $154MM, which is right around where the salary cap is projected to come in.

Izan Almansa To Sign Exhibit 10 Contract With Sixers

June 27th, 2025 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

Undrafted free agent Izan Almansa has agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Sixers, reports Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com.

Almansa just turned 20 earlier this month but has already put together an impressive basketball résumé, having spent time with Overtime Elite, the G League Ignite, and – most recently – the Perth Wildcats in Australia. In 29 games for Perth this past season, he averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per contest, making 51.1% of his field goal attempts but just 53.4% of his free throws.

The 6’10” forward/center has also represented the Spanish national team in several competitions, including at the 2023 U19 World Cup, where the Spaniards won gold and he earned MVP honors.

Almansas was the only one of 12 prospects in the green room for Thursday’s second round who didn’t get drafted, but it didn’t take him long to catch on with an NBA team.

His non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract could be converted to a two-way deal before the season or would put him in line for a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s G League affiliate.

Sixers Sign Igor Milicic Jr. To Exhibit 10 Contract

June 27th, 2025 at 12:14am CST by Luke Adams

July 9: The Sixers have announced that their Exhibit 10 deal with Milicic is official, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.

June 27: After going undrafted, Tennessee’s Igor Milicic Jr. has agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Sixers, reports Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link).

Milicic bounced around during his four college seasons, spending one year with Virginia, two at Charlotte, and one with the Volunteers before becoming automatically draft-eligible this spring. The 6’10” forward, whom Chepkevich lauds for his “two-way versatility,” averaged 9.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 25.4 minutes per game across 37 starts for Tennessee as a senior.

Milicic was the No. 70 prospect on ESPN’s final big board entering the draft and ranks 18th among the players who went undrafted.

Milicic is the second undrafted rookie said to have reached a contract agreement with the 76ers, who are reportedly signing Hunter Sallis to a two-way deal. Milicic’s contract will be entirely non-guaranteed, but could pay him a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived before the season begins and then spends at least 60 days with Philadelphia’s G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats.

It’s also possible Milicic will get an opportunity to vie for a two-way contract, since an Exhibit 10 deal can be converted into a two-way prior to the regular season.

Sixers To Add Hunter Sallis To Two-Way Contract

June 26th, 2025 at 10:08pm CST by Earnest Marshall

The Sixers are signing former Wake Forest guard/forward Hunter Sallis to a two-way contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

Sallis played his first two collegiate seasons with Gonzaga before transferring to Wake Forest. While he played well in limited minutes at Gonzaga, he really blossomed with the Demon Deacons, averaging 18.1 points while shooting 47.2% from the field and 34.7% from three in two seasons there.

Sallis ranked as ESPN’s fifth-best available undrafted player. At 6’5″, he’ll slide into the Sixers’ wing depth chart. The 76ers have Alex Reese currently signed to a two-way deal, so they will have one more two-way slot available after completing the Sallis signing.

Alongside Reese, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Jeff Dowtin closed 2024/25 on two-way deals with Philadelphia.

Latest On Ace Bailey

June 26th, 2025 at 5:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Ahead of the 2025 NBA draft, Ace Bailey‘s representatives told a team with a top-five pick that they didn’t want that club to draft him and that he wouldn’t report to the club if it selected him, sources tell Jonathan Givony and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

ESPN’s report doesn’t name the specific team in question, but it seems relatively safe to assume it wasn’t the Mavericks or Spurs, who were always locked in on Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, respectively. That leaves the Sixers at No. 3, the Hornets at No. 4, and the Jazz – the team that ultimately drafted Bailey – at No. 5.

While it’s unclear if the Jazz were the team out of those three told not to draft Bailey, an earlier report from Bontemps indicated Utah wasn’t on his list of preferred destinations.

Bailey, a former Rutgers wing, made waves leading up to Wednesday due to his unusual approach to the pre-draft process. He canceled a scheduled visit to Philadelphia last week and was believed to be the only prominent U.S. player who didn’t visit any team before the draft.

That strategy led rival teams to speculate that his camp was angling to get him to a specific destination – possibly the Wizards at No. 6 – but Bailey’s agent Omar Cooper contended that there wasn’t anything unusual about his client’s pre-draft activities, according to Givony and Bontemps.

“Every NBA team watched him work out in Chicago,” Cooper told ESPN. “He did 18 interviews. Everyone got his medical (info). They watched him run and jump. They got his measurements.

“No one said anything when Davion Mitchell canceled a workout with the Toronto Raptors. No one criticized Evan Mobley when he didn’t work out for Cleveland, and they drafted him anyway. There is nothing uncommon about how Ace Bailey’s pre-draft process was handled.”

Although Cooper declined to answer questions from ESPN about the Jazz specifically, Bailey suggested on draft night that he wasn’t trying to steer himself to a certain destination, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

“No, I’m just focused on the basketball part. I had nothing to do with that,” Bailey said, adding that he’s learning about the Jazz and preparing to travel to Utah for the first time. “… I fit in good because we all young, so we all got a lot to learn. We can play with each other, get to know each other, how we play, how we fit in, what works, and then also, I don’t know a lot about Utah, but I’m learning as we go. I know it’s cold and it’s hot. It get cold and it get hot here. Gotta find me a place with a good a good heater.”

Bailey also made it clear that he has big-time goals for his first NBA season in 2025/26.

“I definitely want to win Rookie of the Year,” he said, according to Vorkunov. “Definitely want to be an All-Star my rookie year. I want to do a lot.”

Sixers’ Morey Discusses Embiid’s Recovery, Edgecombe Pick

June 26th, 2025 at 6:41am CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening after using the No. 3 overall pick to select Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey provided a positive update on star center Joel Embiid, writes Dan Gelston of The Associated Press.

According to Gelston, Morey indicated that Embiid – who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in April – is on track to be recovered “right around” the time training camp opens in late September, suggesting the team is encouraged by the big man’s recovery progress so far.

“He’s very engaged, attacking rehab,” Morey said. “Doing everything he can to be out there. He had a meeting with (the surgeon) this week. All things, to use a NASA term, are nominal. Things are going well and expected and we expect that to continue.”

Embiid’s left knee has been an issue since midway through the 2023/24 season, when he underwent surgery to address a meniscus injury. He was able to return that spring and played in the Olympics during the summer, but he continued to deal with swelling in the knee in the fall. The injury delayed his season debut until November 12 and prevented him from ever getting fully comfortable during the ’24/25 campaign.

Here are a few more highlights from Morey’s media session:

The Sixers already have rising star Tyrese Maxey, promising 2024 first-rounder Jared McCain, and restricted free agent Quentin Grimes in their backcourt, but didn’t hesitate to add another young guard to the mix on Wednesday when they drafted Edgecombe. “I think we now have one of the best backcourts in the league,” Morey said, per Tony Jones of The Athletic. “When you look at some of these teams that are successful, they all have multiple guards.”
While Edgecombe’s athleticism and defense figure to get him on the court in his rookie year, he intends to do all he can to help out the Sixers’ stars on the offensive end of the court too, as Jones relays. “I’m really focused on trying to shoot the ball at a high level,” Edgecombe said on Wednesday. “My job is going to be trying to release pressure on Joel, Paul (George), and Tyrese.”
Here’s more from Morey on Edgecombe, per Jones: “We’re super excited about V.J. and that we got the chance to draft him. He’s a dynamic athlete. We think he’s one of the best athletes in the draft. We think he has a chance to be a potential All-Star, and he’s going to be a two-way player coming into the league. He has a lot of winning qualities, and we think he is going to be a really good fit. We think he is going to be a great teammate.”
Edgecombe appeared to become the favorite for the No. 3 pick after Ace Bailey cancelled a scheduled workout with the Sixers, but Morey said on Wednesday that Bailey’s refusal to work out for Philadelphia didn’t factor into the club’s draft decision, tweets Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.

Sixers Use No. 3 Overall Pick On V.J. Edgecombe

June 25th, 2025 at 7:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers have selected Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe with the third overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Edgecombe, who was widely viewed as one of the best prospects in this year’s draft class, averaged 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 steals per game in his lone season at Baylor, posting a shooting line of .436/.340/.782 in 33 contests (all starts).

The 6’5″ guard was the Big 12’s Freshman of the Year and made the All-Big 12 second team before declaring for the draft as an early entrant. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has referred to Edgecombe as the “most explosive” athlete in the 2025 draft class, noting that he has shown promising potential as a ball-handler and defensive play-maker.

Early in the draft process, Rutgers forward Ace Bailey was considered the most likely pick at No. 3. However, his refusal to meet with the Sixers, canceling a scheduled workout last week, pushed the team toward a safer choice. Edgecombe had an impressive workout in Philadelphia earlier this month, signaling that he might be worthy of the No. 3 pick.

The Sixers weren’t expecting to have a lottery selection when the season began, but a string of injuries quickly dashed any chance they had of competing for a title. They wound up at 24-58 and barely won at all after the All-Star break in an effort to improve their lottery odds.

In addition, they had to sweat out a close call on lottery night just to keep their draft pick, which would have gone to Oklahoma City if had landed outside the top six. Dallas and San Antonio both passed the Sixers in the lottery, but they breathed a sign of relief when their envelope landed in the top four.

Fischer’s Latest: Sixers, Bailey, Edgecombe, Fears, Maluach, More

June 25th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers are expected to make one last attempt to trade up to No. 2 for the chance to draft Dylan Harper, but it’s not likely to be successful, writes Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). Fischer believes the Spurs have decided they want Harper to be part of their future and haven’t given serious consideration to parting with the pick.

Fischer adds that the most likely scenario is for the Sixers to stay at No. 3 unless there’s a sharp improvement in the offers from other teams. He also suggests that Ace Bailey remains in contention to be selected, even though he canceled a workout in Philadelphia and has sent out signals that he would rather be selected by a team that could offer guaranteed playing time and a larger role in the offense. Fischer still considers Bailey to be a strong fit alongside Joel Embiid and Paul George because of his shooting skills, but he acknowledges that V.J. Edgecombe is the “likely top contender” to go to Philadelphia.

If Bailey does get bypassed by the Sixers, Fischer doesn’t expect him to fall farther that the Wizards at No. 6. League sources tell him that Bailey declined a chance to work out for the Jazz, and it’s believed that he didn’t have an official visit with any of the lottery teams. Fischer points out that Washington meets Bailey’s requirements as a team that could offer “a healthy shot profile and on-ball creation opportunities.”

Fischer shares more inside information as the draft draws closer:

The Nets are likely to pounce on point guard Jeremiah Fears if he’s still on the board at No. 8, Fischer states, noting that rumors of his preference for Brooklyn date back to the Draft Combine. Fears made visits to Utah and New Orleans, and Fischer believes his range appears to start with the fifth pick. Fischer also raises the possibility that the Nets could package some of the five first-rounders they have tonight to move up if they believe another team might select Fears.
Fischer calls Khaman Maluach “the most consequential domino of the first round” apart from Bailey. He’s considered the top available big man, and Fischer notes that he helped himself with strong performances during the interview process. League sources tell Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports that the Pelicans are expected to try to trade up to land Bailey. If they’re unsuccessful, then Maluach could be their pick at No. 7 if he’s still on the board. O’Connor hears that some lottery teams have Maluach ranked in their top two or three and he’s considered “one of the most popular trade-up targets.”
Fischer believes the Pelicans mark the start of Derik Queen‘s range if someone else takes Maluach, but he adds that the Spurs may try to trade up from No. 14 for the Duke center, while the Raptors at No. 9 also have him highly rated.
Cedric Coward has been improving his status throughout the pre-draft process, and Fischer doesn’t expect him to fall past the teens. Sources tell Fischer that Coward has interest from the Trail Blazers at No. 11 and he has worked out multiple times for the Thunder, who hold the 15th pick. Fischer hears that the Nets are hoping to land Coward at No. 19, but they may need to trade up to have a chance.
NCAA Tournament star Walter Clayton Jr. has “multiple suitors” in the early 20s, according to Fischer. He cites league insiders who believe Clayton and Jase Richardson could be targets for the Kings if they’re able to trade for a pick in that range.
There’s an expectation that this will be an active trading night, possibly starting with the Sixers at No. 3 and the Hornets at No. 4. “There’s gonna be at least four or five (trades),” a Western Conference team strategist told Fischer.

Draft Notes: Bailey, Johnson, Maluach, Jazz, Raptors

June 24th, 2025 at 10:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ace Bailey may be the most polarizing player at the top half of the lottery. Bailey, once projected to go off the board with the No. 2 or 3 pick, could drop a few notches after his unconventional pre-draft approach.

The Wizards, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, are hoping that’s the case. Sources tell Pompey that the Wizards want to select the Rutgers freshman with the sixth pick. Washington hopes that Bailey’s refusal to work out for teams during the pre-draft process will cause to him to fall out of the top five.

Bailey canceled his pre-draft workout with the Sixers after they wouldn’t commit to selecting him third overall.

Here’s more draft-related info:

Tre Johnson, a top-10 prospect, has worked out for the Hornets, Jazz, Wizards and Nets, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets. Johnson, a one-and-done who averaged 19.9 points for Texas in his lone college season, is ranked No. 5 on ESPN’s Best Available list.
In their latest mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have moved Duke center Khaman Maluach into the No. 7 slot, where the Pelicans sit. New Orleans agreed to trade Kelly Olynyk to the Wizards and are in need of more size. The Suns, who acquired the No. 10 pick from the Rockets, are now projected to select Arizona forward Carter Bryant.
The Jazz currently have four picks in the draft, including the No. 5 selection. Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune gives his preferred selections at each spot in a subscriber-only story. He’s hoping Baylor’s V.J. Edgecombe slips to that spot but believes it’s more likely the Jazz will wind up with Johnson.
Multiple league sources confirmed to TSN’s Josh Lewenberg that the No. 9 pick held by the Raptors is available. Toronto is looking to upgrade its roster with established players who are ready to contribute to a playoff push.

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