Sports
2023 NBA Free Agency: 7 Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception Targets For The Sixers – Forbes
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 11: Donte DiVincenzo #0 of the Golden State Warriors shoots a … [+]
If the Philadelphia 76ers re-sign James Harden this offseason, it could affect their ability to add another impact player in free agency.
The new collective bargaining agreement, which goes into effect on July 1, prohibits teams from using even the taxpayer mid-level exception if they’re more than $17.5 million over the luxury-tax line. Next season’s tax threshold is currently projected to be $165 million, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, which means the new second apron should land at $182.5 million.
The Sixers are already projected to have $122.1 million on their books for next season committed to eight players. If they re-sign Harden to his $47.6 million maximum starting salary (based on the current $136 million cap projection) or a near-max deal, they’d likely cross the second apron after re-signing some of their other free agents (Paul Reed, Jalen McDaniels, Georges Niang and Shake Milton). That means they’d only be able to sign external free agents to veteran-minimum contracts.
The Sixers could give themselves more wiggle room under the second apron if they trade Tobias Harris’ $39.3 million expiring contract and take back less salary. That could enable them to keep Harden and still have access to the $5 million taxpayer MLE. However, they’re unlikely to have access to the $12.4 million non-taxpayer MLE if Harden returns, as they would need to stay under the $172 million first apron to do so.
If Harden does return and the Sixers leave themselves enough space under the second apron to use the taxpayer MLE, the following seven players stand out as potential free-agent targets.
After trading Jordan Poole for Chris Paul on the day of the 2023 NBA draft, the Golden State Warriors are staring down one of the most expensive rosters in league history. They’re already $16.1 million over the projected $165 million luxury-tax line, and that’s before re-signing Draymond Green, a linchpin in their four championships over the past decade.
If the Warriors re-sign Green, their tax bill would once again soar well into nine figures. That might deter them from re-signing Donte DiVincenzo, whom they inked to a 1+1 deal with a portion of their taxpayer MLE last summer.
In 72 regular-season appearances with the Warriors last season (including 36 starts), DiVincenzo averaged 9.4 points on 43.5% shooting, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.1 three-pointers in only 26.3 minutes per game. The Villanova product ranked third on the Warriors in three-point shooting percentage (39.7%), trailing only Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson (surprise, surprise).
The Warriors can offer DiVincenzo a starting salary of $5.4 million via non-Bird rights, which isn’t much more than the taxpayer MLE. If they’re looking to carve out more minutes for third-year guard Moses Moody and rookie Brandin Podziemski alongside Curry, Thompson and Paul, DiVincenzo could be the odd man out of their backcourt rotation.
The 6’4″ DiVincenzo doesn’t have the size to hang with bigger wings defensively, but he isn’t a total liability on that end of the floor. His three-point shooting would make him both an asset off the Sixers’ bench and a viable threat alongside Joel Embiid, who often creates open shots for his teammates by drawing double-teams in the paint.
If the Sixers can’t land DiVincenzo, Lonnie Walker IV would fill a similar niche for them.
Walker signed a one-year, $6.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, which means they’ll only have his non-Bird rights this year. That means the Lakers can’t offer Walker a starting salary above $7.8 million without dipping into salary-cap space or their non-taxpayer MLE.
With Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura higher on their offseason priority list and D’Angelo Russell also heading into free agency, Walker could get lost in the shuffle for the Lakers. If another team doesn’t pounce with a higher offer, the Sixers could see him as a strong fit as a swing starter/reserve.
Walker averaged 11.7 points on a career-high 44.8% shooting this past season with the Lakers, adding 1.9 rebounds, 1.6 triples and 1.1 assists in only 23.2 minutes per game during his 56 regular-season appearances (32 starts). He shot 36.5% from deep during the regular season and 38.2% in the playoffs, albeit on limited volume (13-of-34).
Walker is more of a defensive liability than DiVincenzo, but pairing him with De’Anthony Melton in the Sixers’ second unit could help mask some of those issues. He shouldn’t necessarily be atop the Sixers’ list of priority targets with the taxpayer MLE, but he could fill a niche nevertheless.
Could a reunion with Seth Curry be in order?
The Sixers acquired Curry on the night of the 2020 NBA draft for Josh Richardson and the No. 36 pick. He started in all 57 of his regular-season appearances for them during the 2020-21 campaign, averaging 12.5 points, 2.7 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 2.2 three-pointers in only 28.7 minutes per game while shooting 46.7% overall and 45.0% from deep.
With Ben Simmons missing the first half of the 2021-22 campaign, Curry took on an even bigger load offensively. During his 45 regular-season outings with the Sixers, he averaged a career-high 15.0 points per game along with 4.0 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.2 triples, and he shot a scorching 48.5% overall and 40.0% from deep.
The Sixers wound up including Curry in the package with Simmons that netted them Harden, and Curry’s role precipitously declined with the Brooklyn Nets this past season. He played only 19.9 minutes per game off the bench, which suggests that he’ll likely be looking for a bigger opportunity elsewhere this offseason.
Tyrese Maxey has made strides as a movement shooter, but the Sixers don’t have a dribble hand-off partner for Embiid like Curry. He’s a glaring target on defense, which could limit his role in the playoffs, but his long-range efficiency would make him a seamless fit off the Sixers’ bench.
Danny Green was an integral part of the Sixers in both 2020-21 and 2021-22. He started all 69 of his regular-season appearances in the former campaign, averaging 9.5 points on 41.2% shooting (40.5% from deep), 3.8 rebounds, a team-high 2.5 three-pointers and 1.7 assists in only 28.0 minutes per game.
Green’s production dipped a bit the following season as he fluctuated in and out of the starting lineup (only 28 starts in 62 regular-season games). However, he still knocked down 1.7 triples at a 38.0% clip despite playing only 21.8 minutes per night.
Green suffered a right calf strain during the Sixers’ second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks in 2021, which helped swing that matchup in Atlanta’s favor. The following season, he tore both his ACL and LCL in his left knee during the Sixers’ season-ending loss to the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, which put his availability for the 2022-23 campaign in jeopardy.
The Sixers wound up dealing Green and the No. 23 overall pick to the Memphis Grizzlies during last year’s draft in exchange for De’Anthony Melton, as they didn’t have the luxury of waiting for Green’s recovery. He did wind up returning in February, but he played only 138 total minutes across 11 games for the Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers during the regular season.
Now that Green is a full year removed from his knee injury, the Sixers might have optimism about his ability to bounce back and provide two-way wing play. Given his age (36) and limited production last season, Green might not have a ton of big-money offers this offseason, but his locker room leadership would be an added bonus to a Sixers team that still hasn’t advanced past the second round of the playoffs since 2000-01.
Danny Green isn’t the only past-his-prime wing whom the Sixers might target this offseason. Joe Ingles could be of interest if the Milwaukee Bucks don’t re-sign him.
The Bucks signed Ingles to a one-year, $6.5 million deal using the taxpayer MLE last offseason, so much like Walker and the Lakers, they can’t offer him a starting salary above $7.8 million this summer without dipping into cap space or the non-taxpayer MLE. If they re-sign both Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, the Bucks will likely go soaring over the second apron and may look to trim costs elsewhere.
During his lone season in Milwaukee, Ingles averaged 6.9 points on 43.5% shooting, 3.3 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 triples (on 40.9% shooting) in only 22.7 minutes per game across 46 contests. He played only 17.8 minutes per game during the Bucks’ first-round loss to the Miami Heat in the playoffs, but he knocked down 10 of his 20 three-point attempts throughout that series.
Ingles’ shooting and passing ability would make him an intriguing fit off the Sixers’ bench. He could absorb some of the secondary playmaking responsibility from either Harden or Maxey, and he could help replace Niang’s three-point shooting if the Sixers don’t re-sign him in free agency.
Athleticism has never been one of Ingles’ selling points, and his defensive impact has begun to wane as he moves into his mid-30s (he turns 36 in October). But with 50 career playoff games under his belt, he could at least be a factor in the Sixers’ postseason rotation as their eighth or ninth man.
Over the past 12 months, Sixers team president Daryl Morey made clear that he wanted to add two-way players to the roster. Hamidou Diallo is decidedly not that.
Diallo is a rugged defender who averaged 0.9 steals and 1.0 offensive rebounds in only 17.8 minutes per game last season with the Detroit Pistons. He ranked in the 99th percentile leaguewide in Dunks and Threes’ defensive estimated plus/minus metric, and he was in the 93rd percentile or better in both steal percentage and offensive-rebound percentage, according to Cleaning the Glass.
There’s just one problem: He’s a terrible shooter. Diallo attempted only 21 three-pointers all season and hit five of them (23.8%). He averaged 1.6 three-point attempts per game in 2021-22, but he wasn’t much more efficient (24.7%) than he was this past year.
Matisse Thybulle, who fell out of favor in Philadelphia because of his own three-point shooting woes, knocked down 32.5% of his long-range attempts across his 3.5-year career with the Sixers. Diallo is a career 27.4% three-point shooter who has only shot better than 30% from deep in one of his five NBA seasons.
Despite those shooting limitations, Diallo averaged 9.3 points per game off the bench for the Pistons this past season. If the Sixers paired him with shooters such as Niang and Melton in their second unit to mitigate his lack of floor-spacing, he could help wreak defensive havoc alongside Melton and Reed.
Jevon Carter has until June 29 to decline his $2.2 million player option with Milwaukee for the 2023-24 season. The Bucks do have Early Bird rights on him, which should allow them to offer him a starting salary north of $11 million if he becomes a free agent, but he could also become a financial casualty if they re-sign both Middleton and Lopez.
Carter is fresh off a season in which he averaged a career-high 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 three-points in only 22.3 minutes per game while shooting 42.3% overall and 42.1% from three-point range. However, he played far more sparingly in the Bucks’ first-round loss to Miami, finishing with only five points on 2-of-9 shooting in 49 minutes across four appearances.
The Bucks have a new head coach in Adrian Griffin, so there’s no guarantee that their rotations would play out the same way next season as they did this past year. Still, Carter’s trimmed role in the playoffs—even though star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo missed two games in that series—doesn’t necessarily portend a long-term future for him in Milwaukee.
If the Sixers aren’t confident in third-year guard Jaden Springer’s ability to garner minutes off the bench alongside Melton, Carter could fill a similar role. He ranked in the 88th percentile of Dunks and Threes’ defensive estimated plus/minus metric, and he’s a far better three-point shooter than Springer, who knocked down only 31.9% of his three-point attempts with the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League this past season.
If the Sixers do want to see what they have in Springer, they’ll likely prefer spending the taxpayer MLE on a wing or a frontcourt player. But if they trade Springer this offseason or prefer an upgrade at that spot, Carter may be the best they can do at this price point.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac or RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.
