The Sixers Need To Pay Attention To The NBA’s First Apron And Hard Caps

The Philadelphia 76ers already made their big free-agent splash by agreeing with Paul George on a four-year, $211.6 million maximum-salary contract. They’ve also agreed to deals with Andre Drummond, (two years, $10-plus million), Eric Gordon (one year, $3.3 million) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (two years, $16.3 million) and agreed to a five-year, $203.9 million maximum extension with Tyrese Maxey.

Although the Sixers entered the offseason with the ability to create more than $60 million in cap space, George will take up most of that. They could still have roughly $8.9 million of cap space remaining after they sign George and Drummond, but only if they sign Oubre using the $8.0 million room mid-level exception. (Since Gordon is on a minimum-salary contract, the Sixers can use a salary-cap exception to sign him once they spend the rest of their cap space.)

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Once the Sixers spend their remaining cap space, officially sign Maxey to his extension and round out the roster with minimum contracts, they’ll be hovering right around the NBA’s $178.1 million first apron. They’ll need to be mindful of that as they fill the rest of their roster spots, as certain moves would hard-cap them at the first apron, prohibiting them from crossing that line through June 30 of next year.

Teams get hard-capped at the first apron if they take back more salary in a trade than they send out, acquire a player via sign-and-trade or sign a player off the buyout market who was previously earning more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The last one is more of a midseason concern, but the other two could deprive the Sixers of some roster-building tools for the time being.

Based on current projections, if the Sixers spent their remaining $8.9 million of cap space on one player, signed second-round pick Adem Bona to a standard contract ($1.2 million) and filled out the rest of their roster with minimum deals, they’d be roughly $700,000 below the first apron and $11.5 million below the second apron. Since any trade in which they take back more salary than they send out would hard-cap them at the first apron, they can’t swing a deal for someone earning considerably more than Paul Reed ($7.7 million), who would likely be the outgoing salary in an offseason trade.

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Sixers have “exploratory interest” in trading for Brooklyn Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who’s earning $14.9 million this season. The Sixers no longer have enough cap space left to absorb his contract without sending salary back, so a first-apron hard cap would complicate their pursuit of him.

For instance, if the Sixers offered Reed and KJ Martin (via sign-and-trade) for Finney-Smith, they’d be only $5.1 million under the first apron with five open roster spots to fill. Minimum contracts cost $2.1 million for anyone with at least two years of NBA experience, so the Sixers wouldn’t have enough room to fill out the rest of their roster if they were hard-capped at the first apron. (Base Year Compensation rules would also complicate a Martin sign-and-trade.)

These rules don’t go away once the season begins, either. If the Sixers were eyeing an upgrade ahead of the trade deadline, they’d still get hard-capped at the first apron if they took back more salary than they sent out. If they aggregate two or more contracts for a bigger deal, they’d be hard-capped at the second apron.

To build the best possible roster while avoiding a hard cap for the time being, the Sixers will have to get creative. Martin might be their key to doing so.

Martin has only a $2.1 million salary-cap hold, but the Sixers have full Bird rights on him, which allows them to sign him to anything up to a max contract. As long as they aren’t hard-capped at either apron—which they aren’t, for the time being—they could sign him to a $15-plus million deal with the intention of flipping him ahead of the February trade deadline for salary-matching purposes.

Once Martin became trade-eligible in mid-January, the Sixers could ship him to the Nets for Finney-Smith along with draft compensation. As long as he’s earning more than Finney-Smith, the Sixers would not trigger a first-apron hard cap with that trade. The Nets would be hard-capped at the first apron, but they’re far enough below it to avoid having that be a major concern.

If the Sixers pivot away from pursuing Finney-Smith, other players in that salary range include Minnesota Timberwolves big man Naz Reid ($14.0 million), Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams ($13.0 million), New Orleans Pelicans wing Herb Jones ($13.0 million), Toronto Raptors big man Kelly Olynyk ($12.8 million), Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis ($12.6 million), Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke ($12.5 million) and Atlanta Hawks forward Larry Nance Jr. ($11.2 million).

Sixers president Daryl Morey often says he’s less concerned with how his rosters look heading into the season than he is with how they look heading into the playoffs. He prefers to maintain flexibility whenever possible to give himself more options for any necessary midseason changes. Given the Sixers’ projected proximity to the first apron, triggering a first-apron hard cap would be the antithesis of that.

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. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.