The 76ers have the most interesting offseason of any team this summer. President Daryl Morey will have a ton of different paths that he can pursue, and you better believe that he is looking into all of them.
Nailing those decisions is absolutely essential after a disappointing first-round exit to the Knicks in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Joel Embiid is 30 years old and the clock is ticking on how much longer Philadelphia will have to build a true contender around him. Morey has the ability to completely flip over the roster, or (more likely) pick and choose which players he will bring back.
The team also can bring Tyrese Maxey back on a contract that could pay him a maximum of $205 million over five years, per ESPN's Bobby Marks. The 76ers will have his restricted rights, so there is little concern that he will go somewhere else.
Here are the options that the Sixers will have available to them.
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76ers upcoming free agents
The 76ers have a ton of free agents on their roster. Embiid's $51.4 million is the only fully guaranteed salary on the team's cap sheet.
Here are the players that Morey will need to make decisions on:
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Player option | Team option/non-guaranteed |
| Tobias Harris | Tyrese Maxey | None | Paul Reed |
| Buddy Hield | Terquavion Smith* | Jeff Dowtin | |
| Nicolas Batum | Ricky Council IV | ||
| Robert Covington | |||
| De'Anthony Melton | |||
| Kelly Oubre Jr. | |||
| Kyle Lowry | |||
| Mo Bamba | |||
| Dewayne Dedmon | |||
| Cameron Payne |
*Two-way
Maxey is obviously coming back. If the 76ers decide not to pursue outside free agents (more on that later), then they could potentially bring back all of these players if they wanted to.
Melton, Batum and Oubre have all played well for Philadelphia when healthy. They're low-salary veterans who should be brought back. Hield hasn't been as good as advertised after the Sixers traded for him, but he makes sense as a volume shooter next to Embiid.
One name that Sixers fans will be happy to see go is Harris. The overpaid starter is finally all the way through the five-year, $180 million deal he signed back in 2019. The Pistons are rumored to have interest in him, according to The Inquirer's Keith Pompey.
76ers future salaries, roster
The 76ers have Embiid locked up for at least another two seasons. Reed's contract would have been guaranteed had they made it past the first round. Philadelphia is the only team with such little guaranteed money on its roster.
All figures via Spotrac.
| Player | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 |
| Joel Embiid | $51,415,938 | $55,224,526 | $59,033,114 (PO) | UFA |
| Paul Reed | $7,723,000 (NG) | $8,109,150 (NG) | UFA | |
| Jeff Dowtin | $2,196,970 (TO) | UFA | ||
| Ricky Council IV | $1,891,857 (NG) | $2,221,677 (NG) | $2,406,205 (TO) | UFA |
PO = Player option
TO = Team option
NG = Non-guaranteed
UFA = Unrestricted free agent
RFA = Restricted free agent
76ers 2024 NBA Draft picks
The 76ers have two picks in the 2024 NBA Draft. Here's a rundown of their draft capital:
First round
- No. 16 pick
Second round
- No. 41 pick
- No. 49 pick (forfeited)
The 76ers forfeited their own 2024 second-round pick as a result of tampering in PJ Tucker's 2022 free agency. They picked up the No. 41 pick from the Bulls.
Our draft expert Kyle Irving has Philadelphia selecting Devin Carter out of Providence in the first round of his most recent mock, noting: "Carter is the type of defender, pick-and-roll ball-handler and competitor who fits Philadelphia's win-now timeline."
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One burning question
How do the 76ers best leverage their cap space?
The Sixers could easily open up over $60 million in cap space. The big question is how they use it.
This is not a good free agency class. Sure, LeBron James or Paul George could suddenly decide that they want to switch teams. If that happened, then the Sixers are essentially the only contender out there with enough room to get one of them. There's rumored interest in George, according to longtime insider Marc Stein.
All of those big-name guys are more likely than not staying put, though. That leaves less exciting names like DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson and Miles Bridges. The list drops off considerably after that uninspiring group.
That doesn't mean Philadelphia's cap space will be wasted. More likely, as pointed out by Byran Toporek over at Liberty Ballers, the front office could take advantage of the new punitive apron rules that make it much more difficult for teams deep into the luxury tax.
As Toporek writes, tax teams will be more aggressive in offloading big deals, and the 76ers could be beneficiaries of trades for good players. They could get these players without having to give up assets or, even better, get draft picks back in exchange for giving a life raft to teams in dire financial positions.
The other option is to bring back their own guys. While they didn't look good enough to challenge Boston, this was a pretty good team before Embiid's injuries. That option could keep them competitive until a bigger name opens up in the trade market.
Sign-and-trades are also an option, although the league's new apron rules preclude several teams from being trade partners via that mechanism.
The Sixers do have a lot of draft capital to grease the wheels in a deal in the event that a star becomes available. They will have first-round picks available in 2026, 2028 and 2029 or 2030 available to move before the draft. After the draft, they can trade their own 2024 selection along with an additional pick in 2031. And they also have a handful of second-rounders to move.
The best option is probably to be patient. The free agents that the 76ers can likely get aren't going to be game-changers, but every year there are star players who are looking for a new team via trade. That is their best way to get a high-end player that can make them truly compete with the Celtics next year.