News 76ers Team Notes

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Report: Sixers decline Jared Butler’s $2.3 million team option

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jared Butler won’t be back in Philly next year, though.

Now that the 2025 NBA draft is over, the Sixers are turning their attention toward free agency. After news broke earlier Friday that Andre Drummond (unsurprisingly) intends to pick up his $5.0 million player option, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Sixers are declining their $2.3 million team option on Jared Butler.

The #Sixers are declining Jared Butler’s team option for the 2025-26 season, according to a source.

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) June 27, 2025​

The Sixers acquired Butler and four second-round picks at February’s trade deadline for a 2026 first-round pick (the worst of the Thunder, Rockets or Clippers’ picks) and Reggie Jackson. It was effectively a salary dump of Jackson to help get them under the tax line along with a half-season flier on Butler and a way to break up one asset (what figures to be a very late first-round pick) into four smaller ones. The Sixers proceeded to convert Butler from a two-way deal to a two-year contract with a second-year team option.

Since Butler has four years of NBA experience, he’s now set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. However, declining his team option doesn’t necessarily spell the end to his time in Philadelphia. The Sixers have non-Bird rights on him, so they’re allowed to sign him to a new contract beginning as high as 120 percent of the minimum salary.

John Hollinger of The Athletic mapped out that exact strategy while previewing the top point guards in this year’s free-agent class.

“He has a team option for $2.35 million, and the Sixers are desperate for inexpensive back-end-rotation talent, but there’s a scenario where Philly declines the option and re-signs him to a longer deal as a non-Bird free agent,” Hollinger wrote.

Since Butler has four years of NBA experience, his minimum salary for next season is slightly less than $2.5 million. Non-Bird contracts can increase by only 5 percent annually, so the most they could offer him is a four-year, $10.6 million deal. The Sixers could also try to re-sign Butler with the minimum exception, although they’d be limited to only a two-year deal at most if they went that route.

Anyone whom they sign to a one-year minimum contract this summer will count as roughly $2.3 million against the salary cap, so there wouldn’t be a huge difference between that and Butler’s starting salary on a new non-Bird contract. In fact, the Sixers could make up the difference and then some if they convince Eric Gordon to decline his $3.5 million player option, even if they intend to re-sign him on a one-year min deal. That would save them roughly $1.2 million, and Gordon would stand to make an extra $165,000 by going that route. It’s a win-win!

Given the tight financial landscape around the league this offseason, it’s tough to imagine Butler receiving much more than minimum-contract offers elsewhere. Don’t be surprised if he’s back in Philly next year and this winds up being just a measure of creative bookkeeping.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...-2-3-million-team-option-2025-nba-free-agency

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Sixers roster, salaries, cap space, available draft picks and more

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

We’re partnering with SalarySwish to help answer your Sixers salary cap questions.

The first year of the “Big Three” Sixers with Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey could not have gone much worse. Injuries submarined them from the jump, and they stumbled to an embarrassing 24-58 record that kept them out of the play-in tournament, much less the playoffs.

The silver lining of that disastrous campaign was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, which the Sixers spent on Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe. While that beat the alternative—the Sixers would have sent their first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder had it fallen outside the top six—Edgecombe’s $11.1 million salary complicates the Sixers’ financial outlook heading into free agency.

In the days leading up to the new league year, Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. picked up their player options ($5 million and $8.4 million, respectively), although Eric Gordon declined his $3.5 million one (perhaps with a slight raise in mind?). The Sixers also declined their team options on Lonnie Walker IV ($2.9 million), Jared Butler ($2.3 million) and Justin Edwards ($1.95 million), although they immediately agreed to a new deal with Edwards.

So, where does that leave the Sixers financially heading into free agency? Will they be able to re-sign Quentin Grimes and/or Guerschon Yabusele? Which mid-level exception will they have? How close are they are to the aprons? We’re partnering with SalarySwish to use their data and help answer every question you have about the Sixers’ financial situation.

We’ll make updates here as the season rolls along, so bookmark this page to keep up on the latest changes moving forward.

Sixers Roster, Salaries, Draft Picks, Cap Space and More​

Here’s a table with all of the Sixers’ salary information, courtesy of our friends at SalarySwish:

That’s a lot of information to sift through, so let’s dive into a few key notes.

FAQ​

How much cap space do the Sixers have this summer?​

Unlike last offseason, where the Sixers created more than $60 million in cap space to sign George, Drummond and Caleb Martin before re-signing Oubre and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers enter free agency well over the $154.6 million salary cap this year.

George, Maxey, Joel Embiid and Jared McCain alone are earning more than $149 million. Add in Edgecombe’s $11.1 million salary, and the Sixers would be over the cap even if they somehow managed to salary-dump every other player on their roster.

How close are the Sixers to the first and second aprons?​

The Sixers are entering free agency with nine players under contract, not counting Edgecombe’s $11.1 million cap hold. That includes Ricky Council IV, whose $2.2 million salary is fully non-guaranteed until Jan. 10. Those nine players plus Edgecombe puts the Sixers at roughly $179.8 million in total salary. Since they have fewer than 12 players under contract, they’d also have two incomplete roster charges of roughly $1.27 million each, bringing their apron total to $182.3 million.

The first apron in 2025-26 is roughly $195.9 million, so the Sixers will enter free agency around $13.6 million below that. The second apron is around $207.8 million, so the Sixers will be nearly $25.5 million below that.

Which mid-level exception will the Sixers have? ​

Well... it depends.

If the Sixers use the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, they’d be hard-capped at the first apron. If they use the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, they’d be hard-capped at the second apron. And if they go over the second apron at any point—say, if Grimes gets his way and lands a $25 million salary—they won’t have any mid-level exception.

Realistically, the Sixers won’t have access to the non-taxpayer MLE unless they cut salary elsewhere. Using it would put them right at the first-apron hard cap, which means they effectively wouldn’t be able to re-sign Grimes. They’re far more likely to use the taxpayer MLE and fill out the rest of their roster with minimum contracts, which would leave them somewhere between $17-18 million to spend on Grimes.

How much will the Sixers pay in luxury taxes this year?​

As of now, the Sixers are $5.55 million below the $187.9 million luxury-tax line. That’s sure to change once free agency begins, though.

The Sixers already reset the clock on the repeater tax by ducking the tax each of the past three seasons. They now can’t be subject to the repeater tax until 2028-29 at the earliest. (Teams have to stay above the luxury-tax threshold three times in a four-season span to become subject to it.)

The new CBA did spike the tax rates for both standard taxpayers and repeater taxpayers once teams get roughly $10 million over the tax line. The repeater rates become preposterous from there, which helps explain why the Boston Celtics decided to detonate their roster this offseason.

These tax rates go into effect in 2025-26.

What draft picks can the Sixers trade?​

The Sixers can currently trade first-round picks in the following drafts:

• 2026 (only if it falls in the top four)
• 2028 (their own, protected 9-30, or an unprotected LAC pick)
• 2029 OR 2030 (not both)
• 2031 (if they don’t trade 2030)
• 2032 (if they don’t trade 2031)

The Sixers owe a top-four-protected pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2026 and a top-eight-protected pick to the Brooklyn Nets in 2028. The Stepien Rule, which prohibits teams from going back-to-back drafts without a first-round pick, limits what other picks they can trade. Since they traded the 2026 first-round pick that they got in the James Harden trade (the worst of the LAC/HOU/OKC picks), they now can’t trade their own 2027 first-round pick unless they acquire another one in that year.

They also have the right to swap first-round picks with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2029 (top-three protected). With both Kawhi Leonard and James Harden’s contracts set to expire after 2026-27, those could wind up being valuable swap rights.

Additionally, the Sixers can currently trade the following second-round draft picks:

• 2027 Warriors or Suns pick (more favorable)
• 2028 Warriors pick
• 2028 Pistons pick (top-55 protected)
• 2029 Sixers pick
• 2030 Wizards pick
• 2030 Suns or Blazers pick (more favorable)
• 2031 Sixers pick
• 2032 Sixers pick

They can’t trade their 2027 or 2028 second-round picks for now because they’re tied up conditionally in the first-round picks that they owe to the Thunder and Nets. If they convey a first-round pick to the Thunder in 2026, they will be able to trade their 2027 second-round pick afterward. The same goes for their 2028 second-round pick if their 2028 first-rounder conveys to the Nets.

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Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/24100956/sixers-roster-salaries-cap-space-draft-picks

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Finally! WNBA announces expansion team for Philadelphia

Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

The WNBA announced on Monday that the league will expand with three more teams, including one in Philadelphia.

In the words of the great LeBron James, it’s about damn time.

The WNBA announced Monday that the league will have three new expansion franchise, including one in Philadelphia.

The Philly team will begin play in 2030, which makes perfect sense. Earlier this year, HBSE and Comcast announced they’re working together to get a new arena built with the hopes of jointly owning a WNBA team. That arena, which will replace the Wells Fargo Center/soon-to-be-named Xfinity Mobile Arena, is set to open in 2031. According to a press release from the Sixers, HBSE will own and operate the team while Comcast has a minority stake.

a new home team. pic.twitter.com/d7Sque4161

— PhilaWNBA (@philawnba) June 30, 2025​

Before Philly’s team takes the court, other franchise will begin play in Cleveland (2028) and Detroit (2029). WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the news in a press conference Monday. Per the AP:

“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball.”

The article also quotes managing partner Josh Harris, who said the hope is the new arena could be ready for the WNBA team by 2030, but if it’s not, the team will simply play at Xfinity Mobile Arena during its inaugural season.

“We tell the city it’s going to open in 2031. We’re hoping for 2030,” said Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment Managing Partner and co-founder Josh Harris, who owns the 76ers. “So we’re trying to underpromise and overdeliver. But, right now it’s 2031, so that we have a year gap, you know. We’ve got the Xfinity center, the Wells Fargo, they’ll play there.”

The WNBA currently has 13 teams, including the expansion Golden State Valkyries, who began play this season. The league is also set to have new franchises in Toronto and Portland. The Philadelphia team will give the WNBA 18 total teams.

Important question for the comments: what should they name the team?

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...on-team-philadelphia-sixers-comcast-new-arena

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Guerschon Yabusele reportedly to sign with Knicks, ending Sixers tenure

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Guerschon Yabusele is heading North and reportedly signing with the New York Knicks.

Adieu, Dancing Bear.

Guerschon Yabusele has reportedly agreed to terms on a two-year, $6 million deal with the New York Knicks, thus ending the Frenchman’s tenure with the Sixers. ESPN’s Shams Charania was the first to report the deal.

Yabusele was exceptional in his return to the NBA. After spending five years overseas, the hulking forward returned stateside to bet on himself and prove he belonged. He did that — in a much bigger role than anyone would’ve anticipated.

While the team signed Yabusele hoping he’d fill a void at the 4, he wound up spending the bulk of the season playing small-ball 5. With Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond missing significant time, Yabusele filled in admirably at the center position. For the season, he averaged 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 38.0% from deep in 70 games.

Yabusele was a big asset to the team’s locker room as well. He battled multiple injuries and his minutes were at times sporadic when Embiid or Drummond were able to suit up. Through it all, Yabusele never complained and was an exemplary teammate. He played hard every night and gave the Sixers all he had, despite being part of a completely lost season. He became an easy fan favorite.

While the Sixers could’ve matched this offer using their taxpayer midlevel exception, it would’ve been tricky without knowing how much restricted free agent Quentin Grimes was going to command. Though Grimes’ options appear to be dwindling, re-signing the soon-to-be 30-year-old Yabusele and somehow losing the 25-year-old Grimes would’ve been a much worse scenario.

The team did agree to terms with forward Trendon Watford on a minimum deal, so the TPLME ($5.7 million) is still in play for the Sixers.

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...-free-agency-guerschon-yabusele-knicks-sixers

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Sixers can replace Yabusele’s production, but replacing his intangibles will be much harder

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Guerschon Yabusele had a productive return to the NBA with the Sixers. As he heads to New York, it will be his personality and mindset that are more difficult to replace.

As Guerschon Yabusele settled onto a courtside chair next to me within the Sixers’ practice facility last December, I couldn’t help but notice a sizable scratch on his neck — the price of doing business when you stand 6-foot-8 and weigh 260 pounds, and you make your living jostling with other large men within a 94-by-50-foot rectangle.

By his recollection, the wound had been incurred in a game two or three weeks earlier.

“It was crazy, because I didn’t see,” he said. “And then I look in the mirror, and it was red, but like, really open.”

Then he pointed to another scar on his left shoulder, further evidence that he was fully immersed in the NBA experience in his second go-round. The Frenchman had flunked a two-year trial with Boston a few seasons earlier, but after playing overseas for a time and starring for his native country in the Olympics last summer, he returned to the Association in the fall more fully formed, more prepared for the task at hand.

And now he’s gone. Gone to the Knicks, reportedly on a modest two-year, $12 million deal. Those well-versed in salary capology have noted that in order to retain the $20 million or so it will take to re-sign restricted free agent Quentin Grimes, his deal would have had to get done before that of Yabusele, who was unrestricted. Instead, New York intervened, and he now joins a big-man rotation that also includes Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.

The fit seemed just as good here, though, in every sense. Yabusele’s willingness to scratch and claw — combined with his shooting, screening and sharing — made him as beloved in the locker room as he was in the stands. Then-Sixer Caleb Martin told me in January that Yabu was “one of the biggest bright spots to our team,” and given the injuries and the losing, who could argue?

And more than that, there was the joy he brought to a dreary season. His corner of the locker room, which he shared with the likes of Ricky Council IV and Jeff Dowtin Jr., always seemed like a brighter, happier place. And when the man long ago dubbed the Dancing Bear showed off his surprising agility during a game — when he romped the length of the court for a dunk or slipped a deft pass to a teammate — others were quick to celebrate him.

“He’s just a good person, man,” Tyrese Maxey told me in January. “You like to see good people like that succeed.”

That feeling extended beyond Philadelphia. Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson was an assistant on France’s Olympic team last summer. And when he brought the Cavaliers to town in January, he mentioned that Yabusele had had “a lotta lightbulb moments” in Paris — none bigger than a dunk on LeBron James in the gold-medal game.

Atkinson went on to say that Yabu was “FIBA tough,” and that he had “performed stupendously” for the Sixers.

“Happy for him,” Atkinson said. “Great guy.”

In truth there was a certain innocence about Yabusele, more than you might expect from a married 29-year-old father of two. He seemed overjoyed about his journey, gratified that he had finally figured the NBA game out.

So while his production — 11 points and not quite six rebounds a game — is replaceable, it would have been interesting to see how things would have played out for him here, as part of a group with which he had such obvious chemistry. Because when it comes down to it, you feel like there’s even more there. That he was, you should pardon the expression, just scratching the surface of what he could be.

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...ele-sixers-tyrese-maxey-kenny-atkinson-knicks