Jared McCain could be the Sixers’ team-building cheat code

Teams need to hit on the margins around a Big 3. The Sixers appear to have hit a home run with Jared McCain.

In the NFL, quarterbacks on rookie contracts have become a team-building cheat code over the past decade or so. Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft and is the front-runner for Rookie of the Year, is earning less than $7 million this season. New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who is in perpetual danger of getting benched, is earning nearly $48 million this year.

For the next few years, the Commanders can allocate that extra $40 million to other parts of their roster. Meanwhile, the Giants are left to flounder with a terrible quarterback on a bloated contract that they immediately grew to regret. (Yes, this is a Tobias Harris subtweet.)

Why are we discussing football on a Sixers blog? Because the Sixers might have found their own version of that with Jared McCain.

Now that the Sixers have Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey all signed to long-term max contracts, the financial flexibility they enjoyed last offseason is a thing of the past. From here on out, they’ll be limited to some version of the mid-level exception (if they stay below the second apron) and minimum contracts in free agency. They also don’t have a first- or second-round pick in the 2025 draft.

The Sixers are currently $4.6 million above the first apron, while they’re around $6.2 million below the second apron. That means they aren’t allowed to take back more salary than they send out in a trade this year or sign someone off waivers who was earning more than $12.8 million (the non-taxpayer mid-level exception). However, they are allowed to aggregate contracts in a trade, which should prove useful if they decide to flip KJ Martin closer to the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

The Sixers aren’t quite as stuck as the Milwaukee Bucks, who can’t aggregate contracts and don’t have control of a single draft pick until 2031, but they aren’t nearly as nimble as the Oklahoma City Thunder, either. They can still shuffle some pieces around in their supporting cast, but they can’t pull off another blockbuster move without trading one of Embiid, George or Maxey. That makes it imperative for them to hit on-the-margins moves.

They appear to have done just that with McCain, who’s fresh off dropping a career-high 34 points and 10 assists in the Sixers’ short-handed loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. That performance put the rookie in rare company.

After the game, head coach Nick Nurse said that not only has McCain earned himself a spot in the rotation, but he could even be in consideration for a starting spot. It’s fair to wonder how the Maxey-McCain pairing would hold up defensively, but having two interchangeable guards who can both pull up from deep and create off the dribble could give the Sixers even more offensive juice.

Regardless of whether McCain establishes himself as Maxey’s long-term backcourt partner or a super-sub off the bench, the Sixers will have him locked into a cost-controlled rookie-scale contract through the 2027-28 season. He’s taking up only 2.9 percent of the cap this year and is projected to account for 2.7 percent next year and 2.6 percent in 2026-27. That is an enormous luxury for a team that may be toeing the apron lines for the next few years.

If Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond decline their respective player options for the 2025-26 season, the Sixers could re-sign both via some variation of Bird rights and stay under the second apron. (Given the way Drummond has started the season, they might rather just pivot to Adem Bona or a minimum-contract big man.) They’d also have access to the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception in that scenario.

The Sixers could also go soaring over the second apron depending on what they do at the trade deadline. Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report has repeatedly been saying that they’re open to adding another player who would eventually push them over that threshold. If the Sixers do go that route, they’ll only have minimum contracts at their disposal in free agency, and they wouldn’t be able to aggregate contracts in trades.

The Sixers appear to have found a gem in Guerschon Yabusele, whom they signed to a one-year min deal after the Olympics, but early returns haven’t been as promising for Eric Gordon or Reggie Jackson. For every Yabusele or Tyus Jones, there’s plenty more players on veteran-minimum contracts who barely make an impact. (See: Wright, Delon.)

Besides, while most of the NBA’s middle class got squeezed in free agency this past offseason—seriously, is anyone gonna sign Markelle Fultz this year?—that might prove to be more of a one-year anomaly than a trend moving forward. The NBA’s new national TV deals are poised to send the cap soaring by 10 percent annually over the next few seasons, and the new salary-floor rules will force teams to open up their checkbooks one way or another. Relying on the minimum market for rotation players is a dangerous game to play.

If McCain’s early-season play proves not to be just a flash in the pan, that’s one less spot for the Sixers to worry about moving forward. They already have Embiid, George, Maxey, Martin and McCain under contract through at least 2026-27, along with Bona and Ricky Council IV. The less they have to rely on overhauling their supporting cast each offseason with players on one-year min deals, the better off they’ll be.

If McCain does eventually blossom into a starter, that could be even more of a game-changer from a team-building perspective. They’d have their Maxey-McCain-Martin-George-Embiid starting five locked into place for the next few years, so they’d only have to shuffle the pieces around that group. Considering the limited resources they project to have in free agency, that would be a godsend for Daryl Morey and Co.

The Sixers drastically raised their ceiling—and perhaps salvaged the remainder of the Embiid era—when they drafted Maxey back in 2020. It’s premature to say McCain will have that type of impact on their team-building plans moving forward, but the early returns suggest that he could be a long-term keeper as well.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.