Philly Front Office

Going to be with you all day and night addressing everything I find concerning the NBA Draft. You will be sick of me before your afternoon coffee. For my wife, that’s a few minutes after her morning coffee.

5:25p – Jake Fischer on Dylan Harper

According to Fischer, the Sixers are trying one last attempt to get the Spurs to part with #2 and Dylan Harper. Since there is a serious talent gap between Harper and the next 4 guys, it will take a lot more than you’d think to move up that one spot. The Sixers would have to put something serious in order to move up, serious like Jared McCain and maybe more draft equity. Anything more than that might be too rich for the Sixers blood even if Harper is everything they need next to Tyrese Maxey now and in the future.

Even if the Sixers do decide they want to throw the godfather offer at the Spurs for Harper, they still might not want to take it. By having the #2 pick, the Spurs are in possession of something that no one else can offer. In any trade out there, no one can guarantee a pick as high as that in the future. If a team falling out of contention or sputtering into luxury tax hell were to put their star on the market, the Spurs would have something that transcends regular draft picks. Those are lottery tickets, the Spurs have the winner. If the Bucks were to trade Giannis, the Suns were to trade Devin Booker, or the Cavs were to trade Donovan Mitchell the Spurs have that card to play. They have to hold onto it.

1:00p – Fred Van Vleet and the Rockets help out the Rockets and Fred Van Vleet

Two off seasons ago, Fred Van Vleet signed a ridiculous 3/$128m contract with the Rockets. It had a club option for year 3. The two sides had been working on something to try to keep him in Houston on a deal a bit more palatable. They just agreed to a 2/$50m deal with a player option for year 2. This works for both sides.

Even with keeping FVV at his previous salary and trading for KD, the Rockets were in a good spot cap wise. However, this move frees up around $20m this year. This lets the Rockets either make some trades or more likely use the full nontaxpayer mid-level exception valued at around $14m.

Essentially, FVV divides the 2025 salary he was never going to get in half to stay on the team. He is happy about this because no one has any money to pay him $25m, let alone his $44m this season. He was probably looking at that $14m mid level number. Instead, the Rockets give him more than anyone else and keep their starting PG in the fold. Good work by everyone.

10:45a – Ace Bailey, Paul George, and the Sixers

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated is saying that the Sixers could attempt to move Paul George when negotiating trades to move down in the draft. This doesn’t make any sense.

First, there is not much of a market for Paul George. I don’t mean that for basketball purposes (though it may be true), I mean it for salary purposes. There are not many teams that can afford or would be willing to absorb his $51.6m cap hit. Teams take contracts to either add talent or shed longer term deals. Why would a team do neither by trading for George?

Second, presumably, this rumor is directed firmly at the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets have very little salary obligation on the books and could absorb Paul George no problem. However, they could do this for lesser players on other teams in exchange for even more draft capital. I’m pretty sure they could get the #10 pick for Bradley Beal right now if they wanted (and if he approved the trade). So, you are telling me they would take back the Paul George contract just to move up? It is the third worst contract in the league by my math.

Third, you have to think this is for Ace Bailey. Despite his pre-draft antics, he is still in play for the Sixers at #3. There is very little chance he falls to Brooklyn at #8 though. Utah, Washington, and New Orleans at 5-7 are all VERY in play for him. Ace apparently wants a situation where he would be “the guy” right away and Brooklyn can offer that opportunity…unless they had Paul George. Not that he would be an impediment on a team looking to lose, but it’s not ideal.

Finally, the Sixers moving PG doesn’t make any sense at all. For one, they are still going to try to win this season assuming Embiid is still alive. If that’s the case, then Paul George is still part of the solution. Even if Embiid is done and the Sixers are going full rebuild, then moving George for lesser talent doesn’t make sense either. For one, the Sixers will wait until he has some positive value before trading him. For two, the only way the Nets could do this is by trading Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson to the Sixers. They both have positive value.

So if a trade went down, it would have to be something like #3 and George to the Nets for Johnson and Claxton. The Nets would do that trade, but do you think the Sixers would do it without getting #8 back? Probably not. Would the Nets do the trade if they included #8? Probably not.

[Just because the Trade Machine and I are cooking today: Claxton, Cam Johnson, and #8 to Philly; PG and #22 to the Suns; Beal, #3 and #10 to Brooklyn? Not bad right?]

Joel Embiid, Paul George, and the Worst Contracts in Basketball

8:00a – Teams Most Likely to Trade In, Out, and Up

Yesterday the Nets got themselves involved in a salary dump trade by the Celtics that nabbed them the #22 pick. This means Brooklyn owns #8, #19, #22, #26, and #27 (plus an early second, #36). Even though they are currently a talentless abyss of an organization, there is no way they make all those picks. Expect Brooklyn to try to package #8 with some of the others to move into the 3-6 range for the quartet of VJ, Ace, Kon, or Tre – OR – to consolidate the bottom 4 into a late lottery pick. Phoenix and their newly acquired #10 pick could be looking to expand their lottery portfolio.

If no one bites, anyone looking to trade from next year into this one would be greatly appreciated by the Metropolitan Monochromes. The teams without first rounders include Detroit (37), Golden State (41), Sacramento (42), Cleveland (49,58), Milwaukee (47), New York (50), Indiana (54), LA Lakers (55), Denver (none), and Houston (none). The Mavericks pick #1 but do not have any other picks, so let’s not count them out.

Other teams with multiple first include: San Antonio (2, 14), Utah (5, 21), Washington (6, 18), New Orleans (7, 23), OKC (15, 24), and surprisingly Phoenix (10, 29).