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Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey didn’t take long to make a big splash, huh?
On July 1, he agreed to trade Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks to the Boston Celtics for Jaylen Brown. That blockbuster deal explained why the Sixers weren’t willing to top the two-year, roughly $17 million deal that Kelly Oubre Jr. agreed to with the Indiana Pacers.
The Sixers hard-capped themselves at the $209 million first apron by spending a portion of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Dean Wade on June 30. That means their payroll cannot exceed that threshold from now through June 30, 2027.
After adding Ariel Hukporti on a reported one-year, $3.4 million deal, flipping George for Brown and agreeing to a two-year, $12.3 million contract with Anfernee Simons, here’s where the Sixers stand financially.
The Sixers split all but $44,000 of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception between Wade and Simons, while Hukporti’s deal came out of the bi-annual exception. The Sixers are now roughly $5.2 million above the $200.4 million luxury-tax line and $3.4 million below the first apron.
Remember, they cannot cross the first apron under any circumstance between now and June 30. That means they can’t offer any free agent—yes, even LeBron James—more than a minimum contract without shedding salary elsewhere first.
That cap picture is still fairly fluid, though. Dalen Terry’s $2.6 million contract is fully non-guaranteed until Jan. 10. Given the hard-cap issues that the Sixers are in danger of running into, it wouldn’t be surprising if they waive him. They could bring him back on a minimum contract and save $135,000.
Jabari Walker is the wild card. Like Terry, he’s set to earn $2.6 million this season. Only $250,000 of his contract is guaranteed through Jan. 10, but waiving him and signing a player to a minimum contract in his place would cost about $115,000 more than just keeping him around.
All of that might sound relatively inconsequential when we’re talking about a $200-plus million budget, but teams have gotten aggressive about pushing boundaries with their hard caps. The reigning champion New York Knicks finished less than $240,000 below their second-apron hard cap this past season, while the Los Angeles Lakers were less than $620,000 below their first-apron hard cap. In 2024-25, the Knicks finished exactly $53,349 below their second-apron hard cap.
The Sixers could always choose to leave one roster spot open heading into the season as an homage to former team president Daryl Morey as a way to save a few bucks. Veteran-minimum contracts begin to prorate downward on a daily basis once the regular season begins, so they could look to sign someone midseason and save more than $1 million that way.
Either way, the Sixers are now poised to enter the season well over the luxury-tax line. If they do sign a 15th player to a minimum contract this offseason, they’ll project to be roughly $1 million below the first apron, although that could change slightly depending on what they decide to do with Terry and Walker.
The Sixers are just about out of spending power, but could they have one more surprise up their sleeve? Based on how Gansey has gotten his Sixers tenure started, we can’t rule anything out at this point.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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