Less than 24 hours before the start of NBA free agency on Sunday evening, it was announced that Los Angeles Clippers star winger Paul George would terminate his contract and enter free agency. The Sixers are considered a “legitimate threat” to sign the nine-time All-Star.
The Sixers have been preparing for this moment for nearly a year and continued to search for the ideal third star alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
But what if they found a fourth star?
Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen has developed into one of the most dynamic offensive forwards in the entire NBA over the past two seasons, a true three-point scorer who can put the ball in the basket at the highest level. As he enters the final year of his current contract, reports are circulating that teams are monitoring whether Markkanen, who is only entering his 27th season, could be available for a trade in the near future.
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It might take a lot of draft picks to convince the Jazz – and rightly so, considering how good the 7-foot-4 Finn has become. But if it’s possible, the Sixers are armed with a collection of future first-round picks to make a competitive offer.
Pulling off a trade for Markkanen after signing George for the maximum offer expected for him – estimated at $49,350,000 in his first season – would be extremely difficult.
But after spending several hours crunching the numbers and consulting various salary cap experts, it actually seems like this route is doable if all goes well: That is, the Sixers could theoretically put those four players together without violating the league’s salary cap rules.
Before we get into all the machinations surrounding the salary cap, it’s worth noting that there are some potential downsides to this: Markkanen, of course, is soon due a new and hefty contract. The Sixers’ financial flexibility would be incredibly limited after assembling this hypothetical four-star unit, and resembles the hellish situation the Phoenix Suns currently find themselves in. There’s a real argument to be made that going down this route would be reckless, as it gives the Sixers a one- or two-year window at best, and then puts them in an extremely precarious position.
But with the Boston Celtics looking like a formidable force and teams like the New York Knicks putting everything on the line, it’s not unreasonable to expect the Sixers to do the same – and if ever there was a group of four players that could do that for, it’s this one.
So come on a journey with me as I outline the path to building a team with Embiid, Maxey, George and Markkanen:
Step #1: Waive all free agents except Maxey
According to projections by salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan at capsheets.com, if the Sixers gave up the rights to all of their free agents except Maxey – Tobias Harris, Buddy Hield, Nic Batum, Robert Covington, De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Lowry, Mo Bamba, Jeff Dowtin Jr., KJ Martin, Kelly Oubre Jr., Cam Payne and Terquavion Smith – they would have $54,781,404 in salary cap space. That’s our starting point in this exercise.
Step #2: Sign Paul George to a maximum contract
The first year of George’s max contract is set to be worth $49,350,000. His contract, which eats up that portion of the salary cap, reduces their salary cap to $5,431,404. But the NBA’s salary cap includes something called incomplete roster fees: If a team doesn’t have at least 13 players it either has under contract or owns the Bird rights to, the team will have a rookie minimum salary deducted from its salary cap for each number below 13 it reaches.
Signing George would eliminate an incomplete roster fee estimated at $1,160,564, giving the Sixers $6,591,948 in salary cap space.
Step No. 3: Exchange for future salary filler
If a team makes a normal transfer during the season, the player it trades cannot be traded with other players for a certain period of time. Free agents cannot be traded at all until December 15. However, if a team adds a player to its salary cap through a transfer, that player can be moved at any time and is allowed to be rolled up with other salaries.
The idea is that the Sixers would use that roughly $6.5 million in salary cap space to siphon off salary through trades so they could eventually send them to Utah as part of a Markkanen deal.
There are some players whose contracts are expiring that other teams could probably sign for little or nothing. For example, Reggie Jackson of the Charlotte Hornets will make $5,250,000 next season and has no short-term or long-term loss on his new team.
Of course, the Sixers would only take step #3 if they knew that step #4 would immediately follow:
Step No. 4: Trade for Lauri Markkanen
This is, of course, the hardest part — and the part of this plan that makes it hardest to imagine actually coming to fruition. First, the Jazz have to decide they’re willing to trade Markkanen. Then, the Sixers have to hope no other team makes a better offer than they can make themselves. Unfortunately for the Sixers, there are teams with better future first-round picks, so even if the Jazz were to decide it’s time to trade away their best player, it’s not exactly a sure thing that the Sixers could get him if they wanted to.
So the structure of the trade would be that Markkanen goes to the Sixers in exchange for Paul Reed, Ricky Council IV or whatever player they acquire to fulfill step #3 and a number of future draft picks.
A quick note: The Jazz are the team that signed Reed to a three-year deal last summer before the Sixers doubled the offer and secured his return to Philadelphia, so it’s entirely plausible that Utah values him to some degree and isn’t just using him as salary filler.
However, everything would have to go well here too for the Sixers’ offer to be attractive to Utah for more than just legal reasons.
Step #5: Find depth
If George and Markkanen were secured in this hypothetical world, the Sixers would have the mid-level exception (which is worth just over $8 million) and veteran minimum contracts to fill the rest of their roster. They could choose to offer the entire MLE to one player in hopes of finding a strong fifth starter, or they could split it between two viable rotation players.
Step #6: Give Tyrese Maxey a max contract
This will officially be the Sixers’ last deal, but also the simplest: Maxey will agree to a five-year contract with the team worth just under $205 million.
And Embiid, Maxey, George and Markkanen would all be on the same roster. Take a deep breath.
Step #7: Hope for a title next season, because hard times are coming
Putting these four incredible talents on the same team in today’s NBA would be a remarkable feat in itself, given the creativity they display. But beyond the 2024-25 season, the team would be in an incredibly disadvantageous financial situation if they were to re-sign Markkanen.
One final disclaimer: This doesn’t mean the Sixers will do it all, or that it’s a realistic outcome, or that they should try if they could. It’s just an attempt to outline the process of building a roster with these four-star players.
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