The 2019-20 NBA season is currently in limbo as the league tries to figure out how they are going to finish up the season quickly and safely. The novel coronavirus causing the league to be in hiatus is going to affect every team around the league financially, but for the Philadelphia 76ers, it will affect them especially.
The league was already expected to take a dip in salary cap for 2020-21 due to the Daryl Morey-China drama before the season even began due to some lost revenue there. However, this hiatus is now going to make that salary cap lesson even more and take a big hit.
Combine that with the big contracts they gave out to Tobias Harris and Al Horford as well as the extension given to Ben Simmons in the summer of 2019, the Sixers will have limited financial flexibility moving forward.
General manager Elton Brand said it is too early to tell how these financial constraints will really affect the Sixers. However, managing partners Josh Harris and David Blitzer have given him the indication that they will spend in order to help the team win.
“I think it’s a little early to speculate on what it is,” Brand said. “I know we want to contend year after year, and that’s going to be our goal. I can’t speculate there, I don’t know how the ownership group, the managing partners are doing personally. But I know they want to win and they’ve given me the green light, I think they’ll continue to do that to figure out ways that we can win.”
According to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype, there isn’t much the team can do.
The Sixers have the highest payroll heading into 2020-21 at $146.9 million. They also are $8.1 million over the luxury tax which would give them a $12.9 million luxury tax bill. With four players set to earn at least $27 million next season, the Sixers will be locked into their current roster. Thankfully, they already have 11 players under contract and a likely first-round pick from Oklahoma City.
The Horford fit has been a bit of a mess on the floor and his contract hamstrings the team moving forward in trying to help the team improve. If they can’t move him this summer, then they will be stuck with the taxpayer’s mid-level exception which comes to about $6 million.
Gozlan explains about Horford:
If they decide to move on from him, they probably won’t get much of a return, but it could open up a ton of flexibility. They could also look to trade Tobias Harris if they want value with flexibility, but it’ll be hard to replace him with a player of his caliber. Unless the Sixers can trade one of their most expensive players to reduce payroll, they’ll be set with the T-MLE as their largest means for improving their roster. That could be enough to address their need for a backup point guard.
There are options for Philadelphia in free agency that can legitimately help the team, but they will need to use their small amount of money wisely. Nonetheless, the offseason of 2020 is going to be a challenge for the Sixers in how they will improve moving forward. [lawrence-related id=30790,30760,30752]