Should the Sixers be looking to move off either Paul George or Joel Embiid this offseason? We answer that and more in this week’s mailbag.
With only two games left in this abomination of a lost season, Sixers fans have clearly turned their attention toward the summer. In the wake of the Denver Nuggets’ drastic shakeup this week, many of you seem to be wondering whether the Sixers could follow suit.
On Wednesday, we asked you for your top Sixers offseason questions. Once again, you came through like Jalen Hurts in the Super Bowl.
Trades seemed to be top of mind this week, so let’s dive right in…
As always, I have to start this with the caveat that I am not a Draft Guy. With that said, I’ve been wondering the same thing. Paul and Harrison seem relatively sold on Tre Johnson being the pick at No. 5 if Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and V.J. Edgecombe are off the board, but the Sixers are already stacked in the backcourt as long as they re-sign Quentin Grimes this summer.
I have no idea how Johnson compares to Jared McCain as a prospect or which of the two would have the higher trade value. However, I’m also not sold that they’d need to move anyone right away if they do take Johnson or another guard at No. 5 or No. 6.
McCain and Tyrese Maxey are on the smaller side at 6-foot-2 each, but Grimes is 6-foot-5 and Johnson was listed at 6-foot-6 this past season. Even if the Sixers didn’t start three of the four, I’d think they could trot out plenty of three-guard lineups as a change-of-pace option. Besides, NBA teams these days can never get enough ball-handlers/shot-creators. If the Sixers are hoping to reduce Joel Embiid’s offensive burden, loading up on scoring guards could go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.
Unless the Sixers determine Embiid is 100 percent cooked moving forward, I’m guessing that they intend to run back this core next year and hope for better fortune on the health front. It could make sense to package one of their young guards with George either at next year’s trade deadline or the 2026 offseason if they go belly-up again, but I’d think they’ll want one more chance at seeing what they have in their current group, particularly after the emergence of McCain and Grimes.
Great question! This is another one that feels like more of a 2026 trade deadline/offseason decision rather than something they do this summer.
For one, the Brooklyn Nets are the only team projected to have significant cap space this year. If the Sixers were looking for cap relief in an Embiid trade, they’d have far better luck in 2026, as multiple teams seem to be clearing their books to carve out a max-contract slot. That would also give Embiid one year to rehabilitate his trade value, as they’d be selling him right now at his nadir.
If Embiid comes back next season and stays relatively healthy, teams may be more willing to gamble on his upside without demanding much additional compensation. But given how the past 14 months have gone for him, he might be nearly untradable right now, and not in a good way. It’s tough to imagine any team being willing to incur that level of risk in the second-apron era.
Had the Sixers not signed Embiid to an extension last summer, it’d be a different story. But having him on the books for $55.2 million next year before his three-year, $192.9 million extension begins in 2026-27? With a $69.1 million player option (!) in 2028-29, which is his age-34 season? That’d be a tough pill to swallow for any team that considers buying low on him.
I’ve been wondering this exact thing since the Malone/Booth firings. It’s starting to look like the Nuggets are in the early stages of the death spiral that the Milwaukee Bucks might be in with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
When you’re building around a top-five player, you want to maximize his championship window. After falling short of expectations for a year or two, you become increasingly desperate to do so, especially as he comes closer to the end of his current contract. Teams tend to take big swings (such as Damian Lillard) to accomplish that goal, but it often has opposite of the intended effect.
The Nuggets “weighed whether to trade away” Michael Porter Jr. ahead of this year’s trade deadline, according to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein. Barring a deep playoff run, they figure to resume those discussions with both Porter and Jamal Murray ahead of the offseason. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Nuggets “inquired about” George last offseason before he signed with the Sixers, but “talks never escalated because Denver refused to discuss” Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther, and “the Clippers weren’t interested in solely taking back future salary.”
George’s disappointing first season with the Sixers likely won’t do his trade value any favors. He’s also earning $51.7 million next season while Porter is only at $38.3 million, so the Sixers and Nuggets would have some salary-related hurdles to overcome. The Nuggets already project to be $4.7 million above the first apron next season, which would mean they couldn’t take back more salary in a trade than they send out. In other words, they’d likely have to loop in a third team in any deal involving George and Porter for salary reasons alone.
I’d guess both the Sixers and Nuggets would want the other team to throw in additional compensation, which is where the trade might fall apart. George is a nine-time All-Star, but he’s also turning 35 in May and still has three more years left on a contract that could soon be one of the worst in the league (if it isn’t already). Porter is eight years younger than George and is on a cheaper contract, but he’s already undergone three back surgeries since entering the NBA. With that said, he’s become shockingly reliable in terms of availability.
A George-for-Porter swap (with additional salary filler thrown in) would be a fascinating challenge trade for both sides. The Sixers should be more interested in that framework than the Nuggets, but after the Luka Dončić trade, we can never rule out a front office making a nonsensical move again.
Before we dive into the specifics here, let’s stress that this is purely hypothetical. Neither the Sixers nor Embiid have given any indication that medical retirement is remotely under consideration. With that said…
If a player has a career-ending injury, teams can apply to have their contract removed from team salary on the first anniversary of their last game. A physician “selected jointly by the NBA and the Players Association” or a Fitness-to-Play Panel must determine that the player “has an injury or illness that prevents him from playing skills professional basketball at an NBA level for the duration of his career, or substantially impairs his ability to play skilled professional basketball at an NBA level and is of such severity that continuing to play professional basketball at an NBA level would subject the player to medically unacceptable risk of suffering a life-threatening or permanently disabling injury or illness.”
The TL;DR version? There is an extremely high bar for anyone to clear to qualify for medical retirement. And even if Embiid and the Sixers did pursue a medical retirement, his contract would go back on their books if he proceeded to play 25 games in any season either for them or any other team.
In other words, don’t count on medical retirement being the Sixers’ get-out-of-jail-free card with Embiid’s contract.
In this scenario, I’m assuming the Sixers used the taxpayer mid-level exception to re-sign Yabu, so they’d only have minimum contracts to hand out in free agency. And since they were such a disaster this season, I doubt they’re attracting any high-end ring-chasers, so I’m not going to include any veteran in their 2026 playoff rotation who isn’t already on their roster.
I’d lean toward starting Maxey, McCain, Grimes, George and Embiid. They might be giving up too much size with the three-guard lineup, but having that many shooters and ball-handlers on the floor at once could help reduce the offensive burden on both George and Embiid, which could be key to keeping both healthy.
Off the bench, they’d have whichever rookie they take with their top-six pick (Ace Bailey/VJ Edgecombe/Tre Johnson/Kon Knueppel), Kelly Oubre Jr., Yabusele and Andre Drummond. If they need more size in their starting lineup or need more reliable ball-handling off the bench, they could swap Oubre with one of McCain or Grimes. They’d still have Jared Butler as a potential reserve ball-handler as well.
Justin Edwards and Adem Bona have shown promising flashes late in the season, but it’s rare for players that young and inexperienced to crack a playoff rotation. With that said, if Drummond struggles as much next year as he did this season, Bona would have a legitimate shot to leap him in the rotation. Lonnie Walker IV would be a nice microwave scorer to throw in as a change-of-pace option, as would Eric Gordon if the Sixers get the post-dental surgery version of him.
As terrible as this season was, it’s fairly easy to envision that team winning 50-plus games next year as long as they stay relatively healthy. The Sixers finally have the backcourt firepower and depth not to be as reliant on Embiid as they have been throughout his entire tenure in Philadelphia. The big question is what version they get of him moving forward.
Let’s end on that sunny note! Thanks to everyone for the great questions. Keep them coming, and I’ll be back to answer more next week.