Would the Sixers have been better off breaking up the money they spent on Paul George into multiple players?
The first year of the Sixers’ Big 3 era has been a bust. To some extent, that was predictable.
While injuries are largely to blame for the Sixers’ season from hell, this was one of the major concerns with the Big 3 model. As teams get more top-heavy salary-wise, they have fewer resources with which to round out their rosters. That makes it increasingly imperative to hit on the margins with their draft picks and free-agent signings, particularly those on minimum contracts.
The Sixers did find a diamond in the rough with Guerschon Yabusele, whom they signed to a one-year, minimum-salary deal after the 2024 Olympics. Other than that, they had far more misses with their offseason signings (Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry) than hits.
That begs the question: What if, instead of signing Paul George this offseason, the Sixers went with a two-stars-and-depth model instead? Would they be better off both this season and moving forward than they are right now?
With a half-season’s worth of hindsight, let’s see if we can construct a roster that could have kept them afloat amidst Joel Embiid’s ongoing battle with his surgically repaired left knee.
First, let’s start with a caveat: No matter what team-building model the Sixers went with — a Big 3 or a more well-rounded two-stars-and-depth approach — they aren’t winning a championship without a healthy Embiid. He’s that critical to what they do on both ends of the floor. But given the underwhelming returns from George in his first season in Philly, they arguably could have better allocated those resources elsewhere.
The Sixers entered free agency with roughly $60 million in cap space. They had Embiid ($51.4 million), Jared McCain ($4.0 million) and Ricky Council IV ($1.9 million) under contract, as well as cap holds for Tyrese Maxey ($13.0 million) and KJ Martin ($2.1 million) on their books.
The Sixers spent their cap space on George ($49.2 million), Caleb Martin ($8.1 million) and Andre Drummond ($5.0 million) before re-signing Maxey and Martin via their Bird rights and re-signing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a two-year, $16 million deal with the room mid-level exception. From there, they handed out minimum contracts to Lowry, Jackson, Yabusele and Eric Gordon and signed second-round pick Adem Bona with the new second-round exception.
So, let’s start by working backwards. The Sixers would still have zero reservations about giving Maxey a full five-year max extension. The same goes for signing Yabusele to a minimum contract, although they’d likely prefer if he took a two-year deal with a second-year team option. They’d also presumably be fine with re-signing Oubre with the room MLE. Luckily, none of those moves would impact their cap space whatsoever.
With that in mind, here’s a partial list of free agents who changed teams this offseason either via free agency or sign-and-trade, along with their salary in 2024-25:
· Isaiah Hartenstein ($30.0 million)
· Tobias Harris ($25.4 million)
· DeMar DeRozan ($23.4 million)
· Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($22.8 million)
· Malik Monk ($17.4 million)
· Klay Thompson ($15.9 million)
· De’Anthony Melton ($12.8 million)
· Jonas Valanciunas ($9.9 million)
· Derrick Jones Jr. ($9.5 million)
· Buddy Hield ($8.8 million)
· Kyle Anderson ($8.8 million)
· Naji Marshall ($8.6 million)
· Malik Beasley ($6.0 million)
· Kris Dunn ($5.2 million)
· Tyus Jones ($2.1 million)
· Taurean Prince ($2.1 million)
· Monte Morris ($2.1 million)
Had the Sixers known how much time Embiid would miss this season, they might have been tempted to splurge on Hartenstein. However, spending $80-plus million on centers would have been a questionable allocation of resources. Instead, they could have ponied up an extra $4.9 million to upgrade from Drummond to Valanciunas, which would still have left them with roughly $55 million to spend elsewhere.
In retrospect, Monk would have been a steal at only $17.4 million. He’s having a career year with the Sacramento Kings, averaging 18.1 points, 5.9 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 three-pointers in 32.6 minutes per game. Monk is on the smaller side at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, so pairing him with Maxey would raise the same size concerns as the Maxey-McCain duo. However, he could have alleviated some of the playmaking/ball-handling responsibility from Maxey, and his long-range shooting ability would make him a nice complement to Embiid (when healthy) as well.
Had the Sixers signed both Monk and Valanciunas, they still would have had roughly $35 million in cap space to spend before re-signing Maxey, Oubre and KJ Martin. Re-signing Tobias Harris at $25.4 million might have led to a fan revolt — besides, he’s averaging only 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game with the Detroit Pistons this year — but they could have landed both Derrick Jones Jr. and Naji Marshall with plenty of room to spare. In fact, they’d have more than $19 million left over after signing Monk, Valanciunas, Marshall and Jones.
That could have allowed them to throw a bag at Max Christie, who re-signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $32 million deal as a restricted free agent. They also could have fit either Luke Kennard ($9.3 million) or Malik Beasley ($6.0 million) while still staying under the cap. From there, it would just be a matter of handing out minimum deals and re-signing their own guys.
When the dust settled on free agency, their rotation could have looked like this:
PG: Maxey/McCain/Morris
SG: Monk/Christie/Beasley
SF: Oubre/Naji/RC4
PF: DJJ/Yabusele/KJ Martin
C: Embiid/Valanciunas/Bona
Again, that roster isn’t winning a championship with a hobbled Embiid. The two-stars-and-depth Sixers would be just as reliant on him staying healthy, if not more so.
With that said, they’d have far more depth than the actual 2024-25 Sixers do, and more financial flexibility as well. It’d be easier for them to cobble together medium-sized contracts for a blockbuster move if one became available either at the trade deadline or during the offseason.
If George bounces back next season from the array of injuries that have limited him this year, perhaps this all winds up being much ado about nothing. But if he continues to underwhelm on his $200-plus million max contract, the Sixers may grow to regret having splurged on him rather than divvying up his $50-ish million in cap space between multiple players.
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.
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